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JAPAN AT WAR, 1931-1945
There's an impish spirit in modern Japan that likes to recycle names from the Second World War. Thus the Kaga and Izumo, helicopter carriers that could also handle jumpjets, are named for two of the earliest Imperial Navy carriers of the 1930s. More recently, the Japanese space agency announced that Hayabusa 2 successfully touched down on the asteroid Ryugu, fired a projectile, and collected samples of the -- well, I suppose I can't call it "earth," can I? Soil, then!
The Hayabusa (Falcon) was the Imperial Army's most modern fighter plane in 1941, which Allied pilots -- including the Flying Tigers -- usually identified as a Navy Zero. Its modern incarnation has a further task ahead of it: to explode a crater on the surface of the asteroid so as to gather more extensive soil samples. Then it will try to bring them home. Below is a snapshot of Ryugu as the spacecraft took off. You can clearly see its H-shaped shadow, and at the center of the image is the surface that it scorched while taking off. Blue skies! -- Daniel Ford
Japan's long war:
Russian aircraft losses at Nomonhan
Elusive target: Bombing Japan from China (Richard Dunn)
Did U.S. leaders know that war was coming?
A guest of the Japanese in the Dutch Indies (Arie Biemond)
"New Guinea was my introduction to war" (anonymous)
Ketsu-go (waiting for the Americans, summer 1945)
Olympic vs. Ketsu-go (the invasion that didn't happen)
Japan's Longest Day: how Japan surrendered
The U.S. Navy arrives in Tokyo Bay, August 1945
Did Japanese soldiers fight for the Vietminh?
The Hiroshima files:
Why Truman dropped the bomb II (Wilson Miscamble)
Little Boy vs Operation Olympic (an internet debate)
How many died at Hiroshima?--counting the uncountable
What was the yield of the Hiroshima bomb?
Was there a third bomb? What was its target?
Been down that lonely road: NASM confronts Enola Gay
Hiroshima and the end of the war--a reading list
The Japanese Army Air Force files:
The decision to move south (Japan v. the West, 1941)
Mr. Suzuki recalls the Flying Tigers (December 1941)
Lucky Sevens? life and death of the 77th Sentai (Richard Dunn)
JAAF deployments against Rangoon, December-March (maps)
Japanese army aircraft met by the AVG
Joe Baugher's Hayabusa files
Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa ("Oscar") armament (Richard Dunn)
About those Nakajima Ki-43 machineguns
Regimental song of the 64th Sentai (video)
Japanese army aces and their victory claims
JAAF fighter pilots lost in China-Burma area, 1941-42
Ki-45 Toryu (Dragon Slayer, aka Nick)
Why's a Zero?
Japanese warplane names and designations (Osamu Tagaya)
Allied code-names in perspective (Richard Dunn)
Sussing out the 'Chengdu Zero'
Zeros over China, 1941-1942 (Ben Schapiro)
Unraveling the Zero's performance data (Richard Dunn)
'Never dog fight the Zero' (the San Diego evaluations)
A conversation with Saburo Sakai and a scrap of his scarf
'Winged Samurai': rethinking the Sakai myths
An interview with another Zero pilot
Kamikaze, cannibals, & other mysteries:
'Be as one already dead' (Ruth Benedict)
The soldier who cut up living prisoners (London Times)
The butchered bodies of New Guinea (graphic photos)
The Rape of Nanking: Japan in denial
Meet Colonel Tsuji, genius and cannibal
Outram Road Prison, Singapore
Done to death: the unlucky prisoners of Rabaul
The man who didn't shoot down Pappy Boyington
Why the kamikaze volunteered (Yasuho Izawa)
A Japanese army pilot trains to die
'Crashing bodily into a target is not easy' (the how-to manual)
'I will be waiting for you at Yasukuni Shrine'
'Annihilate them all' (the order to murder PWs)
Books & stuff:
The webmaster's picks: 10 books worth reading
Books about Japanese aircraft and aces
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Once or twice a month, I send out an email newsletter about my books and the subjects covered in them, most often about military aviation and the wars of the past hundred years. You can unsubscribe at any time.Question? Comment? Newsletter? Send me an email. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford
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Posted March 2019. Websites ©1997-2019 Daniel Ford. All rights reserved.