Japanese guncam footage

• Feb 14, 2013

• #1

J

Jenisch

Staff Sergeant

1,080

18

Oct 31, 2011

Hello,

What I know is that gun-cameras were only used by Japan for training and propaganda shots. Any exception for combat, specially that survived the war?

 

• Feb 15, 2013

• #2

M

mhuxt

Staff Sergeant

826

80

Jul 16, 2004

NHK (= Japan's BBC) maintains a fairly extensive on-line collection of wartime newsreels, including various shots of Japanese aircraft going up to meet allied attacks. I've trawled through quite a number of them, on sleepless evenings, but have never found any guncam shots.

Example of what I'm talking about:

日本ニューã'¹ï½œNHK 戦争証言ã'¢ãƒ¼ã'«ã'¤ãƒ–ã'¹

Above link has the directory, here'sn actual newsreel from June '44:

http://cgi2.nhk.or.jp/shogenarchives/jpnews/movie.cgi?das_id=D0001300345_00000&seg_number=002

 

Last edited: Feb 15, 2013

• Feb 16, 2013

• #3

bobbysocks

Chief Master Sergeant

3,945

326

Feb 28, 2010

Pennsylvania

it is a shame we dont have those to use for reference. but an odd thought crossed my mind concerning the PTO and gun film. what ever happened to the gun camera film ( and combat reports ) from "operation vengeance"...the mission to get Yamamoto? were these shuffled away into some "classified" folder never to be seen again....or destroyed out of respect? all i can find are some photos of possibly the ac he was in....but nothing of military record.

 

• Feb 17, 2013

• #4

proton45

Senior Airman

666

7

Jan 30, 2007

Massachusetts

It seems to me that the mission was top secret, and the USA didn't want the Japanese to (even suspect) that their top secret codes had been broken. The USAF did everything that they could think of, to make the attacking P-38's look like they where on a typical sweep. They might have thought that cameras, found on a downed fighter, may have been proof of a planned attack.

 

• Feb 17, 2013

• #5

T

tyrodtom

Senior Master Sergeant

3,647

1,346

Sep 6, 2010

pound va

Most US aircraft had gun cameras, the P-38 had them. That doesn't mean they were always loaded with film though.
I've looked at several Japanese aircraft cutaways, haven't seen any with gun cameras noted yet.
The Japanese were sometimes so anal about weight, they may have just saw gun cameras as just un wanted extra weight.

 

• Feb 17, 2013

• #6

Matt308

Glock Perfection

18,941

99

Apr 12, 2005

Washington State

Other than to confirm kills, the quality of early-to-mid war camera technology left a lot to be desired. I've always questioned their efficacy as a training tool.