USS Kitkun Bay FM-3B, 1 March 1946
Link:
www.whatifmodellers.com/index.…
General Motors Eastern Division FM-3B Wildcat
a/c 410, Composite Squadron VC-4, U.S. Navy
USS Kitkun Bay, 1 March, 1946
The final 300 Wildcats built by General Motors were of the FM-3 model, custom-built specifically to support the Operation Coronet invasion of Honshu. This FM-3 featured the more powerful, 1,425hp (1,063 kW) Wright R-1820-74W engine and a height adjustable undercarriage (an innovation whereby the fuselage could be lowered for easier access to the engine; this was meant to improve time management and safety, but was usually ignored in service, though commonly seen in use by VC-4). 50 were of the FM-3B subtype, which was adapted for the airborne forward air controller role, with radio equipment designed to enable easier communication with all Allied assets on the ground, in the air and at sea.
US Navy Casablanca class escort carrier USS Kitkun Bay had seen considerable action prior Y-Day, notably as part of Taffy 3 during the Battle off Samar. For Y-Day, she carried Composite Squadron VC-4, equipped with 14 FM-3Bs and 12 TBM-3E, forming a day and night combination for artillery observation and the spotting of naval gunfire, forward air control and armed scouting missions. FM-3B 410 is seen here with a typical VC-4 target marking load as carried by both the FM-3B and TBM-3E, with external fuel tanks, 5 inch HVAR with white phosphorous warheads and M47A2 white phosphorous bombs. The M47A2s hung from stores pylons adapted from those carried underwing by the F4U-4 Corsair.
410 wears the a colour scheme common to VC-4's aircraft on Y-Day. This includes the U.S. Navy standard overall dark sea blue camouflage with orange and yellow Y-Day invasion stripes, which was applied to all single- and twin-engined Allied types for the invasion. The white painted engine cowling and white horizontal tail surfaces identified all Y-Day forward air control planes of the U.S. Navy. The letters NA identified the USS Kitkun Bay.
USS Kitkun Bay survived Y-Day and Operation Coronet without damage. Her gunners shot down 9 kamikazes and VC-4 aircrews claimed a further 5. After 4 weeks on the line she steamed to the rear for maintenance, replenishment and crew rest, sitting out April and resuming combat in mid May. She was part of the Allied flotilla at the formal surrender in Tokyo Bay on 29 May, 1946, and then took part in Operation Magic Carpet, returning Allied POWs and wounded troops to the United States for repatriation.
During their two combat tours between Y-Day and VJ-Day, VC-4's Avenger and Wildcat crews flew day and night throughout the Operation Coronet battlespace. In addition to directly supporting US Army and Marine Corps troops in contact with the enemy and leading interdiction operations against the enemy's rear, VC-4 also flew a few missions in support of the British Commonwealth landings at Wakasa Bay on the western coast of Honshu.
Tachikawa Ki-100 To-Go
Link:
www.whatifmodellers.com/index.…
Tachikawa Ki-100 To-Gō
Kiku Tokubetsu Kôgekitai (Chrysanthemum Special Attack Forces), Japanese Imperial Army Air Force
Annaka, Honshu, Japan
1 March, 1946
Tachikawa undertook licenced manufacture of Showa's Ki-61 from mid-1942, producing several versions on the Ha-40 powered aircraft. When Showa shifted production to the Ki-61-II, powered by the longer Ha-140, Tachikawa continued with its Ha-40 powered versions until the Ha-40 was withdrawn from production. With insufficient Ha-140s available to meet Tachikawa's demands, the firm adapted the Ki-61 to accept the Mitsubishi Kasei Ha-32 radial engine. This conversion was designated Ki-100 and proved reasonably successful, remaining in dispersed production until February 1946.
The To-Gō variant was a Special Attack (kamikaze) plane, produced from dispersed tunnel and outdoor sites from September, 1945. As the intended pilots were so poorly trained for their one-way mission that they had received no aerial gunnery instruction, the plane carried no gun or cannon armament, but could carry a bomb on the centreline and additional explosives in the rear fuselage. The bomb type seen here is an ANFO (fertilizer and diesel) type, identified by its yellow nose cap and light coloured body.
Like many Ki-100 To-Gō examples photographed, this aircraft was not numbered and wore a partially applied camouflage over its lacquer-protected metal finish. The canopy appeared to be damaged in the photo, probably from being exposed to the elements and to Allied bombing. However, it was clearly deemed to be sufficiently airworthy for its mission, as it is seen warming-up and taking-off with other Ki-100s for their one and only combat mission to engage the American invaders of Honshu. Some of the other Ki-100s also show signs of damage, corrosion and poor workmanship.
According to Japanese sources, the Ki-100s of Kiku Tokubetsu Kôgekitai were successful, with at least 6 of the unit's 47 Ki-100s that took-off on the morning of Y-Day finding targets. Two Ki-100s from Kiku Tokubetsu Kôgekita are believed to have struck the minesweeper USS Hopkins (DD-249), causing it to sink with the loss of 59 crew members dead. Just 2 minutes later, another Ki-100 hit the near-by destroyer USS Rowe (DD-564), resulting in 15 dead and many more casualties. Two LSTs, USS Middlesex County (LST-983) and USS Clarke County (LST-601) were struck next, resulting in a combined total of 115 dead: both ships were forced to withdraw from action for repairs. Another Ki-100 from the unit made a glancing blow on the light cruiser USS Vicksburg (CL-86), resulting in no significant casualties (other than the pilot).
Of the remainder of the Kiku Tokubetsu Kôgekitai's 47 Ki-100s flown on Y-Day, most were shot down by American fighters or anti-aircraft gunners. US Navy F4U-4 Corsair pilot, Ensign David Taylor, is credited with 3 Ki-100 kills on Y-Day, each of these likely to be from Kiku Tokubetsu Kôgekita. A few are also believed to have crashed due to pilot error or equipment malfunction.
1st American jet-to-jet killer
Link:
www.whatifmodellers.com/index.…
Lockheed P-80A Shooting Star
356th Fighter Squadron, 354th Pioneer Mustang Fighter Group
#655, personal mount of Captain Michael Bradley
Daegu, southern Korea
21 December, 1945
In December 1943, the 354th Fighter Group was the first to take the P-51B into combat and two years later, in October 1945, it was also the first to take the P-80A on a combat mission. After the Separate Peace/Great Betrayal of August 1944 which saw the end of fighting on the Western Front, the 354th remained at airfield A-31 in Gael, France, for two months before returning Stateside, where they were disbanded in December. In January, 1945, the 354th stood up again, initially with P-51Ds but then, as they became available from the production line, the new turbojet-powered Lockheed P-80A Shooting Star.
After extensive training, the three flying units of the 354th Fighter Group (the 353rd, 355th and 356th Fighter Squadrons) moved to the Philippines in October, 1945, and from there deployed to southern Korea via Okinawa in November. At the time, Allied ships and positions in and around southern Korea were subject to occasional tip-and-run attacks from Rikugun Ki-89 Itsumade-Kai Floyd jet bombers. Prepared for jet-to-jet combat, the pilots of the 354th were frustrated to discover over the coming weeks that the Japanese had ceased all offensive jet missions near the Korean Peninsula from the very day that the first Shooting Stars landed there. Assigned daylight top cover air defence duties, the jets pilots could only look on as Allied pilots in piston-engined fighters intercepted the occasional propeller-driven, low-altitude dawn and dusk raider. Fearing that their jet pilots were getting bored, Allied air commanders sent them on offensive missions over the Japanese Home Islands from mid-November, but the Japanese jets rarely appeared and only prop kills were made.
On 21 December, 1945, the Japanese jet pilots responded to a series of bomber strikes made across the Home Islands. However, it wasn't the bombers who were targeted by the jets, but the opposing jets of the 354th who were flying top cover for a a series of strikes against targets in central Honshu. From 10.45 hrs, elements of the 356th Fighter Squadron encountered Fuji Kaiken – Kai Terry jets from the Habu Sentai, a woman-only air defence unit; the 353rd and 355th also engaged with Terrys from other units. In the ensuing battles, the American pilots claimed 7 Terry kills, with 2 damaged and 3 probables, although the Japanese recorded 3 jet combat losses and 2 losses to other causes. The Japanese claimed 4 jet kills, 3 damaged and 5 probables, but American records confirm 2 Shooting Stars lost in air combat against Japanese jets that day.
Captain Michael Brady is credited with the first American jet-to-jet kill, piloting his P-80A #655 to a victory over a Terry at about 10.47. This kill matches Japanese accounts of a
Terry piloted by Lt. Aya Miyama, shot down by a Shooting Star south of Mt Daisen. This was Brady's 6th kill in the war against Japan, having joined the 356th after two tours of duty in the Pacific war. The fact that pilot who was shot down was a woman remained a closely guarded secret (even from Brady) for several years after the war; only when Lt. Aya Miyama's story was told in a Japanese newspaper in 1961 did this fact become public knowledge. Brady would go on to score 9 more air-to-air kills, including 7 in two days during the invasion of Honshu in March, 1946.
His first 3 kills were two Betty bombers and a Zero fighter whilst flying P-39Ds in defence of Port Morseby. After a rest and some time spent as an instructor, he returned to the South West Pacific theatre, racking up another two kills (both
Oscars) before returning to the States and joining the 354th in their conversion to the Shooting Star.
As depicted, P-80A #655 Zombie/The jinx has 6 kill markings, the model being based on photographs taken as the 6th kill marking was added. Brady can be seen being congratulated by pilots and ground crew as the fresh kill marking is applied.