Marking Q re: carrier-based A6M circa late summer/autumn 1943

Viking1066 said:

The rest of the files begin in 1944.

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Wurger said:

A nice set of pics. However the lack of the white outline of the Hinomaru may indicate the Mitsubishi made Zero but not the Nakajima one. Secondly I'm not sure if these are of the new camouflage introduced in the Spring of 1943. The tops were painted green while the undersides stayed of the grey.. The difference between the Nakajima and Mitsubishi camo was the way of applying of the grey colour at fuselage sides of the tail section. The Nakajima started the colour from the vertical stabilizer undersides while the Mitsubishi just a narrow part at the fuselage bottom. IMHO these pics look like being taken in 1942.

Here the Nakajima-built A6M2 model 21 just dated on August 1942 and IJN Junyo carrier .. looking similar ...

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andrewgeorge said:

I've seen those they are excellent! That's going to be basis

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andrewgeorge said:

Wow those are great shots—from a newsreel I gather?

My understanding is that summer 1943 the navy went to two-tone green/grey paint and removed fuselage stripes from planes.

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Viking1066 said:

That appears to be correct. The one I see from the IJN Hiyo has one in March, but it's gone in April.

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andrewgeorge said:

I *think* Hiyo's planes were deployed to land bases in the Solomons for a big air offensive in April 1943, so they might have been temporarily field-camouflaged.

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Wurger said:

A nice set of pics. However the lack of the white outline of the Hinomaru may indicate the Mitsubishi made Zero but not the Nakajima one. Secondly I'm not sure if these are of the new camouflage introduced in the Spring of 1943. The tops were painted green while the undersides stayed of the grey.. The difference between the Nakajima and Mitsubishi camo was the way of applying of the grey colour at fuselage sides of the tail section. The Nakajima started the colour from the vertical stabilizer undersides while the Mitsubishi just a narrow part at the fuselage bottom. IMHO these pics look like being taken in 1942.

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SaparotRob said:

Would you have color illustrations showing the differences?

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SaparotRob said:

Would you have color illustrations showing the differences?

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SaparotRob said:

Beautiful shots!
In the top photo, the A6M in the background has the "Nakajima camo" and white circle around the Hinomaru. Is this correct?

Would the white outline indicate Mitsubishi?

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Wurger said:

As memo serves the Hinomaru with the white outline was applied by the Nakajima factory to distinguish their Zeros from the Mitsubishu manufacturer built kites. But it was done before the Green/Light Grey camouflage was intorduced in the beginning of the 1943. Soon as the new camo was introduced also the Mitsubishi started applying the white circle around the Japanese National marking. So it is not possible to say by what factory the Zero was made. Additionally the white outline was overpainted with the green or black by the maintenance crews at the field mostly. As a result the way the demarcation line of the camo colours was running can give a tip. But same as with the Luftwaffe camouflages and colours I have to say it can be the general statement only. Contrary to the A6M5, in case of the A6M2, to determine which factory the plane was manufactured by, it would be good to know its serial number.

View attachment 769714
the source: the net.

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