Retired Japanese Fighter Pilot Sees an Old Danger on the Horizon - A New York Times Article on Zero Pilot Kaname Harada

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Browsing through NYT I found this article which held my attention as I knew something about Mr. Harada after reading his story in "The Last Zero Fighter" book. I found article thought-provoking and figured some might appreciate it.

 

 

By Martin Fackler
New York Times - April 3, 2015

\
NAGANO, Japan — Kaname Harada was once a feared samurai of the sky,
shooting down 19 Allied aircraft as a pilot of Japan’s legendary Zero fighter
plane during World War II. Now 98 years old and in failing health, the
former ace is on what he calls his final mission: using his wartime
experiences to warn Japan against ever going to war again.

This has become a timely issue in Japan, as the conservative prime minister,
Shinzo Abe, has called for revising Japan’s pacifist Constitution. On a recent
afternoon in this alpine city near his home, Mr. Harada was invited to
address a ballroom filled with some 200 tax accountants and their business clients.

After slowly ascending the stage with the help of his daughter, he stopped to
hang up hand-drawn war maps and a sepia-toned photo of himself as a
young pilot in a leather flight suit glaring fearlessly into the camera.

It was the same face that now turned to look at the audience, creased by age,
and somehow softer and wiser. His body was so frail that his suit hung loose
like a sail, but he spoke with a loud voice of surprising vigor.

“Nothing is as terrifying as war,” he began, before spending the next 90 minutes
recounting his role in battles, from Japan’s early triumph at Pearl Harbor to its
disastrous reversals at Midway and Guadalcanal. “I want to tell you my experiences
in war so that younger generations don’t have to go through the same horrors that I did.”
 

It is a warning that Mr. Harada fears his countrymen may soon no longer be able to hear.
There are only a dwindling number of Japanese left who fought in the war, which in Asia
began when Imperial Japan invaded northeastern China in 1931, and claimed tens of
millions of lives over the following 14 years.
 

In an interview after his speech, Mr. Harada described himself as “the last Zero fighter,”
or at least the last pilot still alive who flew during that aircraft’s glory days early in the war
with the United States. He recounted how in dogfights, he flew close enough to his
opponents to see the terror on their faces as he sent them crashing to their deaths.
 

“I fought the war from the cockpit of a Zero, and can still remember the faces of
those I killed,” said Mr. Harada, who said he was able to meet and befriend some
of his foes who survived the war. “They were fathers and sons, too.
I didn’t hate them or even know them.”
 

“That is how war robs you of your humanity,” he added,
“by putting you in a situation where you must either kill perfect strangers or be killed by them.”
 

Mr. Harada said that as he and other aging veterans pass from the scene, Japan will lose
more than just their war stories. He said it was his generation’s bitter experiences, and
resulting aversion to war, that have kept Japan firmly on a pacifist path since 1945.
 

While he tries to avoid wading into politics, he let slip a jab at Japan’s current leaders, who
he said seem a bit too eager to discard Japan’s renunciation of war, and too forgetful of
what an accomplishment its long postwar period of peace really has been.
 

“These politicians were born after the war, and so they don’t understand it must be avoided at
all costs,” he said. He sat on a tatami mat in his living room, which is decorated with pictures
of aircraft and an aluminum fragment from the Zero in which he was shot down in 1942.
“In this respect, they are like our prewar leaders.”
 

Similar concerns are shared by many Japanese, as the nation approaches the 70th
anniversary of the war’s end. Warnings about the passing of the war generation have been
voiced all the way up to Crown Prince Naruhito, 55, who in February urged his nation to
“correctly pass down tragic experiences and history to the generations who have no
direct knowledge of the war, at a time memories of the war are about to fade.”
 

Such worries have made Mr. Harada a highly sought-after public speaker. He said he has
spoken dozens of times in recent years, though he has had to cut back since collapsing from
exhaustion in a bathroom after a talk last year. Despite a recent diagnosis of throat cancer,
he speaks with a passionate conviction that left some in the Nagano audience brushing away tears.

“I am 54, and I have never heard what happened in the war,” said Takashi Katsuyama, a hair
salon owner, who like many in the audience said he was not taught about the war in school.
“Japan needs to hear these real-life experiences now more than ever.”
 

Mr. Harada’s talk was filled with vivid descriptions of an era when Imperial Japan briefly ruled the
skies over the Pacific. During the Battle of Midway in 1942, he said, he shot down five United States
torpedo planes in a single morning while defending the Japanese fleet. He described how he was
able to throw off the aim of the American tail gunners by tilting his aircraft to make it drift almost
imperceptibly to one side as he closed in for the kill.
 

He also described his defeats. He said he had to ditch his plane in the sea after Japan lost all four
aircraft carriers it sent to Midway, the battle that turned the tide of the war in favor of the United States.
Four months later, he was shot down over the island of Guadalcanal. He survived when his plane
crashed upside down in the jungle, but his arm was so badly mangled that he never fought again.
He spent the rest of the war training pilots back in Japan.
 

After Japan surrendered, he said, he hid from what he feared would be vengeful American occupiers.
He worked for a time on a dairy farm, but found himself plagued by nightmares that made it tough to sleep.
In his dreams, he said, he kept seeing the faces of the terrified American pilots he had shot down.

“I realized the war had turned me into a killer of men,” he said, “and that was not the kind of person I wanted to be.”
 

He said the nightmares finally ended when he found a new calling by opening a kindergarten in Nagano in 1965.
He said he was able to alleviate the pangs of guilt by dedicating himself to teaching young children the value of peace.
While he has now retired, he said he still visits the school every day he can to see the children’s smiling faces.
 

He said it took many more years before he could finally talk about the war itself. The turning point came during the
Persian Gulf war in 1991, when he was appalled to overhear young Japanese describe the bombing as if it were
a harmless video game. He said he resolved to speak out.
 

He has been talking about his war experiences ever since.
 

“Until I die, I will tell about what I saw,” Mr. Harada concluded his speech to the accountants’ group.
“Never forgetting is the best way to protect our children and our children’s children from the horrors of war.”
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/04/world/asia/retired-japanese-fighter-pilot-sees-an-old-danger-on-the-horizon.html?_r=0

 

 

 

 

More about Mr. Harada can be found here :

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=128737

 

[johncage]

excellent warning to his fellow countrymen, especially the youth.

 

however i fear it will also give credence to the ideologues with their simplistic black and white worldview that supposes pacifism to be panacea to all geopolitical troubles

[taleks]

Yes, war robs us of our humanity, Harada is absolutely correct in everything he says, but world is wicked and moved not by humanity, but by political interests.

It is sad, but his warning probably will be politely ignored.

 

Japan's fears are understandable, after all China, Russia (well, of course we had no any military incidents with Japan last 60+ years, only never-ending quarrel over islands, but any wise general should assume the worst), North Korea are close to Japan.  They have military forces (Self Defence Forces, which is real army capable to perform offensive operations, not some toy soldiers), thus their Constitution already doesn't reflect correctly the state of theirs forces.

Moreover the World is not peaceful place as it seemed would be after WWII, situation, countries, weapons - everything changed, thus they should consider probability of military operations or unavoidable local conflicts in future.

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

 

 

excellent warning to his fellow countrymen, especially the youth.

 

I think this could well apply to more nations than Japanese.  It's sad but little was learnt after WWII

 

 

 

It is sad, but his warning probably will be politely ignored.

 

I think FlatSpinMan lives in Japan, I'm curious if such warnings ever make it into public media. 

[-NW-ChiefRedCloud]

Often many focus on their military as the evil that starts war. I can assure you that though the military member trains for war, it is the last thing they desire. As mere tools of the government we are used or misused by those in power. 

 

No, War is not good and no one wins in the end.

 

Chief

[unreasonable]

Yes, war robs us of our humanity, Harada is absolutely correct in everything he says, but world is wicked and moved not by humanity, but by political interests.

It is sad, but his warning probably will be politely ignored.

Agree with all of this post, but this in particular. Also simply to observe that many people gain a great deal from war - at the expense of other, of course. I see war as an inevitable part of the human condition for the foreseeable future: not all disputes have negotiable solutions that all parties can accept, if they see the use of force as a viable alternative way to get what they want.

[johncage]

to make no distinction between war of conquest and war of necessity is like saying there's no difference between self defense and murder

 

the absolutist, non discriminatory anti-war stance is very dangerous, perhaps more so than gun-hoism

Edited April 4, 2015 by johncage

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Some time ago in Tokorozawa Aviation Museum there was an event in which Mr. Harada participated, he seems to be full of life despite his age. 
 

 

[FlatSpinMan]

I think FlatSpinMan lives in Japan, I'm curious if such warnings ever make it into public media. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes indeed I do. Being a foreigner I end not to watch/read much of the local media as )A, I just can't and B) It doesn't appeal to my tastes. Like, or perhaps more so than,  many countries, the vast majority of the populace are unaware or ambivalent to politics, particularly things that don't pertain directly to themselves.That said, there are definitely some people protesting the historical revisionism that has been going on here for a long time (the current PM, Shinzo Abe, has just given tons and tons of money to the foreign ministry to promote Japan's view of WW2 to the wider world as he feels that the narrative has been controlled too much by China and South Korea, both countries occupied by the Japanese in the early to mid-20th century).

Most of the discussion tends to be over official school history textbooks and their treatment of issues such as "comfort women" and war guilt. These days the right wingers are more and more vocal.

 

About Japan's recent stance on modifying the post WW2 constitution, lots of people are a bit fearful, the right wing are vocal in favour of it, and the vast majority are unaware of its existence, or else wouldn't express an opinion without checking that everyone else agreed first.

[Mastermariner]

It looks as if the population doesn't share the views of the government, not a completely unknown phenomena in the west, and wants to demilitarize Japan.

 http://www.euronews.com/2015/04/05/japan-okinawa-governor-stands-firm-on-opposition-to-us-military-base/

Master

[FlatSpinMan]

I was going to post a bi more about this but better not so as to avoid political discussion. It never ends well on this forum. It tends to to start poorly, with a bad stretch in the middle, for that matter.

[Mastermariner]

We can talk of war but not of peace. Something is very, very wrong!

 

Master

[FlatSpinMan]

Btw, have you seen Japan's new "NOT an aircraft carrier"?

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Yeah, I would rather say an "almost aircraft carrier".

 

But the only true Japanese aircraft carrier I saw was in Japanese movie "Eien no Zero" :

 

But they also used some magic called graphics and made one of their frigates or whatever that was into Akagi :

 

http://cgworld.jp/feature/1312-e0sp-2.html

 

 

At least the movie was great and I enjoyed all the scenes, though expected more combat but cant complain after tremendous job they did to recreate all the details

Edited April 8, 2015 by =LD=Hiromachi

[FlatSpinMan]

That's an impressive transformation. There are some really good Japanese CG artists making WW2-themed stuff.

I've yet to see that movie but will. In fact I nearly picked it up at the DVD shop this afternoon (but went with Wreck it Ralph for the kids instead).

"Eien no zero" was, somewhat surprisingly, really popular with the teenage girls I teach. Maybe all that messing with textbooks is working...   

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Wait, you teach in Japan ? Sorry if touching private area but that is really cool

 

And obviously it was since movie is not pure military like "Oba the last samurai" or movie about Yamamoto, but more its a story of experiences and feelings of a Japanese pilot. He has a pregnant wife and despite all odds tries to survive the war which is extremely disliked by both his fellow pilots and superior officers. And all of that in a form of story told by his friends. I dont want to spoil you anything but highly recommend the movie and after seeing it more than twice I know why girls might like it

[unreasonable]

Wait, you teach in Japan ? Sorry if touching private area but that is really cool

 

And obviously it was since movie is not pure military like "Oba the last samurai" or movie about Yamamoto, but more its a story of experiences and feelings of a Japanese pilot. He has a pregnant wife and despite all odds tries to survive the war which is extremely disliked by both his fellow pilots and superior officers. And all of that in a form of story told by his friends. I dont want to spoil you anything but highly recommend the movie and after seeing it more than twice I know why girls might like it

 

Just from your description it sounds pretty obvious why girls would like it. The hero is a uniformed naval pilot hence very much an alpha male. Yet he is vulnerable because he lurves his wife and hates war - we all know how much the Japanese military of the 1930s hated war.   He suffers heroically wishing only to be reunited with the good woman who makes him complete. No doubt he is good looking too, in whatever way is currently fashionable. Instant female melt-down.   I should get this for my GF, she will love it.

 

PS do not mean to be a language bore, but you might want to know that "touching private area" means something a little different from "touching on a private matter" which I think you meant....

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Damn, that's why I make a fool of myself often when I talk to the natives ... Poland cannot into English

 

And you described it partially correct. There is also a drama and a choice he has to make. Plot is quite deep actually, but cant say anything due to spoilers. 

 

From my perspective ... it was also probably my first experience of not getting frustrated by the aircraft type and markings when watching a war movie.

That was an outstanding attention to detail.  For instance, the movie set below is an exact replica of the operations building at Rabaul :

 

 

And here is a real one :

 

More pics :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[unreasonable]

Those are convincing! Sometimes knowledge of a subject can get in the way of enjoying films: or novels too. Watching the movie Battle of Britain as a kid was enjoyable: when I watched it again recently all I could see was the Merlin engines on the "109s".

 

BTW your English is excellent, which is why you can get something so nearly right but just wrong enough that it is funny.

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Well, if someone does not have problems with a bit of spoilers than can watch this - only the music chosen by the author is terrible. It is a compilation of the scenes from the movie, no voices, no sounds, only annoying music.

 

 

My english has one problem - I can discuss and elaborate some things fluently but when comes to longer essays or articles I have problems and need someone to look into them and correct. But its a matter of writing more and improving...

Edited April 8, 2015 by =LD=Hiromachi

[FlatSpinMan]

@Hiromachi - yep. I sure do. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I've been here for years now - about 16 years, I think. Came here when I was 22.

Yes, it's in writing that the errors or even the correct but less natural elements really stand out. Your English seems excellent to me though.

 

 

That level of detail as shown in the photo is really impressive. I'm not a rivet-counter but I do still notice the glaring errors in war movies. At least these days many productions try hard to be accurate - Band of Brothers, The Pacific, etc.

 

@unreasonable - I get your argument, but seriously the types of guys that the girls in school swoon over are far from the Alpha male with a sensitive side prototype. So man of the popular Japanese male celebrities are what you might call, for want of a better word, "sissy". Not all of course, but there is a far higher tolerance for "sissyness" here than back in my native New Zealand, for instance.

Here are some links to exemplify my comments. Yes, they are chosen selectively, but it really does give you some idea.

Some of these are Japanese, others Korean. Korean pop stars are huge here these days.

http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Pusan+International+Film+Festival+Day+3+M-Cax

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/242/2/5/matsujun_2010_anan_6_by_elitejean-d2xn93z.jpg

[FlatSpinMan]

Interestingly and quite coincidentally, I walked into the locker room at work today to change before biking home and two teachers were actually discussing the importance of teaching the girls the real effects of war. I couldn't catch everything but the gist was that the younger generations haven't experienced the trauma of war and that people in Japan today were getting influenced by the the heroic, patriotic, romantic depictions of war - perhaps from just these kinds of movies.

Oteacher said that 25 of the 400 JSDF personnel who deployed to Iraq a few years ago have subsequently committed suicide, which may be an indication of the lack of mental preparedness, perhaps, especially given that they were in support roles. This is my own understanding of an overheard conversation though, so it must be viewed with extreme suspicion.

 

The same teacher, an older Social Studies teacher, actually once showed Full Metal Jacket to the girls, which kind of bowled me over. He did it to show the brutalizing and desensitizing effects of military training and combat, as well as the effects on civilian populations in war zones. These days I don't imagine they would be allowed to show such a movie, nor in NZ for that matter.

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

I've heard that there was, when movie was launched, a big response from the people. More than 2.5 million of Japanese people saw it in first two weeks, a lot of new  Zero books aimed at the general audience (i.e. shallow books filled with photos most simmers seen before) in bookstores, many aviation / WW2 history museums have created some tie-up special exhibits for the movie (Tokorozawa, Usa, Kure, etc. all have seen increased visitors), and even biggest plastic models manufacturer, Tamiya, also said their aircraft kit sales were growing. 

 

Only shame nobody took an opportunity there to make a game. 

 

 

Band of Brothers was good, very good. But Pacific was mostly one sided series with some mistakes too. Japanese side was presented as passive as all action was seen from the US soldiers position so its harder to point but I saw couple of discussions here and there. At least they try, unlike in Pearl Harbor movie ...

 

 

 

Oteacher said that 25 of the 400 JSDF personnel who deployed to Iraq a few years ago have subsequently committed suicide, which may be an indication of the lack of mental preparedness, perhaps, especially given that they were in support roles. 

According to some US official statistics every day there is at least one attempt by US veteran from Iraq or most likely Afghanistan, to commit a suicide. Most of the guys dont really know how the war looks like and feels like as they grew on Hollywood heroes and similar crap.

 

 

 

The same teacher, an older Social Studies teacher, actually once showed Full Metal Jacket to the girls, which kind of bowled me over. He did it to show the brutalizing and desensitizing effects of military training and combat, as well as the effects on civilian populations in war zones. These days I don't imagine they would be allowed to show such a movie, nor in NZ for that matter.

At least in my school that would not be a problem. But as a Poles we might have a different perspective, the Warsaw Uprising Museum is daily visited by school kids and they can see the pictures, recreated scenes, movies and notes presenting the atrocities committed by Germans and their allies Ukrainians (from 31. Schutzmannschafts-Bataillon der SD). 

 

Anyway, its really interesting what you say Flatspin

[FlatSpinMan]

Almost all kids here are taken on school trips to the museum at Hiroshima (or Nagasaki). I've been myself and the realia, photos, and accounts are really, really hard hitting. Even on a hot summer's day you come out chilled. My school also takes the girls to the Peace Museum in Osaka (nearby) which has some pretty graphic pictures and descriptions. It also has a section on Japanese atrocities. The right wing governor of Osaka city is trying to cut funding.

 

However, the context in which the Hiroshima bombing is set is (or at least was 16 years ago) rather unusual to a westerner's perspective, very much playing up the "peace loving Japanese victims" aspect. From memory, the first room of the museum begins with the words "Japan was pulled into World War II by a surprise attack on Pearl Harbour." As I said, I went there a long time ago and it may well have changed.

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

I cant really say what people think, I know few Japanese myself and got one very close friend who studies in Frankfurt but thats all about real Japanese I know. However, there is a good book about Japanese perspective on the beginning of the world war two :

http://www.amazon.com/Japan-1941-Countdown-Eri-Hotta/dp/0307739740/ref=la_B001KD4YNA_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428588726&sr=1-1

 

Thus I partially understand what that museum had written as Japanese society was pulled into war being unaware of government and military plans. After all society had a rising critics towards government in 1941, people were simply tired of the long conflict with China which affected negatively the economical state of society, the rationing of certain goods already existed back then ... 

[unreasonable]

@Hiromachi - yep. I sure do. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I've been here for years now - about 16 years, I think. Came here when I was 22.

Yes, it's in writing that the errors or even the correct but less natural elements really stand out. Your English seems excellent to me though.

 

 

That level of detail as shown in the photo is really impressive. I'm not a rivet-counter but I do still notice the glaring errors in war movies. At least these days many productions try hard to be accurate - Band of Brothers, The Pacific, etc.

 

@unreasonable - I get your argument, but seriously the types of guys that the girls in school swoon over are far from the Alpha male with a sensitive side prototype. So man of the popular Japanese male celebrities are what you might call, for want of a better word, "sissy". Not all of course, but there is a far higher tolerance for "sissyness" here than back in my native New Zealand, for instance.

Here are some links to exemplify my comments. Yes, they are chosen selectively, but it really does give you some idea.

Some of these are Japanese, others Korean. Korean pop stars are huge here these days.

http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Pusan+International+Film+Festival+Day+3+M-Cax

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/242/2/5/matsujun_2010_anan_6_by_elitejean-d2xn93z.jpg

 

Friends who have been in Tokyo now for 3-4 years report a similar fashion trend for young men to look like dandies. Though from what I have seen in my limited anime watching (ahem), they may be dandies but they still tend to fulfill my archetype role quite well. IMHO young females are hardwired to put out when confronted with sensitive alpha males - at least that has been my personal experience

 

They also report the incredibly high incidence of suicide, among young males especially, from those who cannot cope with the extraordinary level of conformism required in Japanese society. My guess is that the Japanese soldiers would have had a lower incidence of suicide if they had actually been in a fight or two, and bolstered their self esteem as warrior-samurai, instead of being tucked away in a camp. 

[FlatSpinMan]

Interestingly (and appallingly), NZ has the (or one of the) highest male teen suicide rates in the developed world. No one is really sure why that is.

[unreasonable]

I did not know that - is it Maori specific or across the board? NZ culture (based on my sample which is admittedly biased towards the kind of people who like to play and watch rugby) seems to demand it's males fall into a fairly specific role - humble bloke who is also tough - maybe a bit hard for some to deal with for the more sensitive artistic types. By comparison the Aussies I know are much more varied. Pure speculation of course.

[FlatSpinMan]

No, it doesn't really seem to match the image, does it? From personal knowledge I knew of four Pakeha teens who killed themselves between the ages of 11(!!) and about 17. Not friends, just people in the smallish towns I grew up in.

As for your sample of the NZ population "the kind of people who like to play and watch rugby" is actually a fairly huge swathe of NZers, so it is probably a reasonable basis to work with. Two of the guys I mentioned were somewhat creative but not extremely so, one was admittedly a bit 'odd' just all round, and one was by all accounts a very popular sporty kid. Absolutely blindsided the teachers at his school.

[FlatSpinMan]

Youth suicide rates.

 

Country Suicide death rate per 100,000 males

Finland (2004) 33.1

New Zealand (2005) 27.6

Ireland (2005) 20.4

Norway (2004) 20.3

Canada (2002) 17.5

Australia (2003) 17.4

Japan (2004) 16.9

USA (2002) 16.5

Sweden (2002) 14.6

France (2003) 12.5

Germany (2004) 10.5

United Kingdom (2004) 8.0

Netherlands (2004) 7.3

 

Seems we're right up there for teenage girls, too.

 

 

Country Suicide death rate per 100,000 females

Finland (2004) 9.7

Japan (2004) 8.4

New Zealand (2005) 8.2

Norway (2004) 7.3

Canada (2002) 5.2

Sweden (2002) 4.5

France (2003) 3.7

Australia (2003) 3.6

Ireland (2005) 3.2

USA (2002) 2.9

Germany (2004) 2.7

Netherlands (2004) 2.6

United Kingdom (2004) 2.3

[FlatSpinMan]

Actually, turns out that Maori are more represented - by about 100% - so you were right.

[unreasonable]

Wow - NZ rate is over 3 times UK rate... obviously must be many factors at work, either making people want to top themselves or making it easy for them to do so if they get the urge. I believe that if you record attempts rather than success the female numbers look much more like the male results. Glad to see there is still at least one thing everyone agrees men can do better than women.

[FlatSpinMan]

If a job's worth doing...

[FlatSpinMan]

Maybe. It does rain a lot, and with all the grass and trees it stays wet and muddy in winter, especially in the South Island.

[Mastermariner]

All men are not created alike, I strongly believe there are genetic differences when it comes to the possibility to develop physical sickness such as depression. Nordic people have that a lot. We are like wrongly tuned instruments, cannot be tuned but might in best case be able to produce some music if we learn how to play on it.

Also due to religious, economical, political and social reasons all suicides in the world are not reported as such so that might explain some of the difference.

 

Master

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Well, I thought of coming back closer to the topic. 

 

There is in United States a Legend Flyers crew, they are responsible for restoring various warbirds such as Me 262 :

http://www.stormbirds.com/project/index.html

Currently they are working on A6M3 model 32, code name Hamp / Hap - here is a story of this particular aircraft http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbird-articles/interviews/tale-fighter-ron-cole.html

 

To get more details on that I suggest you to check their facebook profile, here is a short video from the work :

 

 

But coming to the main point. Guys were lately in Japan and they visited some places, including Yasukuni Shrine where they took some pictures of a Aichi D4Y Suisei, code name Judy. It was a dive bomber used since 1943 (actually it saw action for the first time in 1942 in the battle of Midway when two models were used for recce tasks) with really nice profile, good flight characteristics but unfortunately fussy engine.

 

I'll post a few pictures and leave the link to the rest which were uploaded on facebook : 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1061361160546986.1073741865.255443124472131&type=1

 

That Judy is delicate but alluring girl

Edited April 14, 2015 by =LD=Hiromachi

[FlatSpinMan]

Shes quite big in real life, as I recall. I went there years ago when I lived in Tokyo and would like to go back.

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Yes, the length is about 10 meters. The wingspan is 11.5 m and stabilizer span is 5 m. Judy is not a small aircraft, but after all its a dive bomber with internal bomb bay to take a 500 kg bomb. It cant be small

[Feathered_IV]

Wait what!? Eien no Zero has some of the action set around Rabaul??? Oh I am seriously getting a copy of that.

[=362nd_FS=Hiromachi]

Yes, there are a couple of scenes on Lakunai airfield and they carry some operations to Guadalcanal from there. Rabaul is pretty important part of the movie.