Picture of the Day - Miscellaneous

Ditched German airmen on the way back from air raid in UK.
One of them poured green liquid as marker.


Source: Axis Photo Album (1941)

Führer Hitler's office introduced to the Japanese people in 1941.

Office measurement : Depth 27 x Width 15 x Height 10 meters
Wall/floor material : Dark-red Austrian marble
Portrait on the front wall : Otto von Bismarck by Franz Seraph von Lenbach
Gobelins tapestry of the 17th century era on the back wall


Source: Axis Photo Album (1941)

Tripartite Pact Signing Ceremony in Berlin on 27 September, 1940.

From left to right : Italy's Minister of Foreign Affairs Galeazzo Ciano, Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop and Japan's Ambassador to Germany Saburō Kurusu

Source: Axis Photo Album (1941)

Dramatic pictures from Germany introduced to the Japanese people in 1941.

Upper: Captain Heinborg bails out from his burning plane into the enemy field.
Lower: German troops attacks a French city to occupy from the sky and the ground.

Source: Axis Photo Album (1941)

Fighting German soldiers introduced to the Japanese people in 1941.

Airborne in the sky


On the ground


An officer checking time for action


Soldiers writing letters for their families, which Japanese showed strong sympathy

Source: Axis Photo Album (1941)

Discovery of the nuclear energy in Germany introduced to the Japanese people in 1940.

p.160
Dr. Otto Hahn and others at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Germany had been experimenting with bombarding uranium with neutrons for some time and, at the beginning of 1939, they discovered a surprising fact. Uranium is the heaviest element and is naturally radioactive but, when bombarded with neutrons, it also produces several artificial forms of radium.

p.164
One strange thing here is that, since last spring, Germany has not only published no reports on this study but its discoverer Dr. Hahn has remained silent and, hence, there is a rumor that Germany is conducting research toward using this terrifying energy for the military purposes because a lump of uranium can blow away even London or Paris at once.


Source: Modern Natural Science (1940)

Nice shots shinpachi!

B-24s of 14th AF raid on Kowloon Docks of Hong Kong Harbor, October 16, 1944. Im not sure if the Japanese interceptor is climbing or falling. It looks like it might be missing half of its starboard wing.

Shinpachi said:

Press airplanes
Asahi, Yomiuri and Nichi-nichi

Click to expand...

Great to see, Shinpachi, the bottom aircraft is a Percival Gull, possibly a Gull IV.

Shinpachi said:

Upper: Lord Sempill and his wife at the airfield

Click to expand...

Sempill was of course the leader of the British Naval Mission to Japan in 1921 and kept in touch with his contacts in Japan, long after such a thing was regarded as a bad career choice in Britain, which led him to being accused of supplying classified information to a hostile nation by British Intelligence.

Shinpachi said:

Forgotten weapon.

Click to expand...

This is great to see, Shinpachi, could you translate the captions, please? I am guessing, but I suspect the hangar is the one at Kasumigaura, the IJN base that the British Naval Mission operated from. The airship shed at Kasumigaura was a war reparation and came from Germany. The airships are proving to be difficult to identify, they look like Parseval airships, which the Japanese army operated one of, but it was destroyed in 1912, pre-dating the hangar at Kasumigaura. The IJN at this stage bought a small non-rigid from Britain and another from France, with a Nobile semi-rigid from Italy but neither of those resembled the ships in the picture. There was a production run of patrol airships with a firm called Fujikura, so is this what we are looking at?

nuuumannn said:

This is great to see, Shinpachi, could you translate the captions, please? I am guessing, but I suspect the hangar is the one at Kasumigaura, the IJN base that the British Naval Mission operated from. The airship shed at Kasumigaura was a war reparation and came from Germany. The airships are proving to be difficult to identify, they look like Parseval airships, which the Japanese army operated one of, but it was destroyed in 1912, pre-dating the hangar at Kasumigaura. The IJN at this stage bought a small non-rigid from Britain and another from France, with a Nobile semi-rigid from Italy but neither of those resembled the ships in the picture. There was a production run of patrol airships with a firm called Fujikura, so is this what we are looking at?

Click to expand...

I am impressed with your deep knowledge, Grant.

Shinpachi said:

I am impressed with your deep knowledge, Grant.

Click to expand...

Thank you very much for doing that, Shin, it confirms the location at least. I thought the hangar was too big to be the one at Tokorozawa, so it had to be Kasumigaura. I've been conducting research into airships for years and Japanese airship efforts are not widely known - I'd like more information on Fujikura's ships, but that's hard to come by in English. Again, thanks for the translation. I'd give your post bacon and a winner if I could!!!

A Japanese inventor Isaburo Yamada (1864-1913) is the first guy who built airships in Japan and flew in 1910.
Here is an old news reporting his experiment with his 3rd airship in 1911.

New Record Established by Yamada Airship
<Flew 13 miles over the forest of Shiba Park>
Mr. Isaburo Yamada was conducting flight tests with his third prototype airship every day in mid-September. In the early morning of September 17, Mr. Yamada and his engineers Takiguchi and Orihara and dozens of his workers of the Osaki Balloon Mfg Company pulled a ship out of the hangar. Filled with gas, the airship made a couple of flight tests under the command of Yamada. As it was a perfect day for flight with gentle north wind, Yamada and engineers Takiguchi and Orihara decided to challenge a long flight to set a new record on the day. It was 6:30 am. When the airship was released from the wire, it flew upwards and upwards as if a big bird Garuda had found the right moment and finally reached a height of about 300 meters. It kept flying along the northern railroad tracks toward Ebisu Station peeking through the clouds to become itself a black spot in the sky. Crews in the airship, the royalty of the heavenly world now, turned the ship to the right to look down on the city of Tokyo, then crossed over the forest of Shiba Park from south to north startling the citizens on the ground with the roar of the propulsion machine. They headed for north after passing over the radio tower on the hill of Atago and reached Hibiya field where the ship was to land as destination. At this moment, however, the air current suddenly changed and a slightly strong wind blew from the southeast hitting the starboard side of the hull. Immediately, to keep safety, the pilot turned the rudder and made a large circle toward Shibahama flying over the sea of Shibaura and reached Shirokanedai and made two or three small circles to land finally in front of the hangar. This trip was about 13 miles for 25 or 26 minutes and indeed set a new record in the Japanese aviation history. Therefore, it would be natural that Mr. Yamada and his engineers showed big smiles on their faces when they had finished this long-distance flight successfully. I was also happy to see them as a reporter.


Source: Graphic (Oct. 1911)