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TLIGuy
·Bloodied Ecuadorian pilot keeps cool after giant bird slams into cockpit.
Wow!!! Now that’s a bird strike!!!
Wow!!! Now that’s a bird strike!!!
Edited:
The Aviators Thread
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DoctorEvil
·If you are ever in OMA, the SAC museum is fabulous.
Happen to be restoring a Vulcan B MkII at the museum.
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gearjockey
·Is that an F-117 Nighthawk on the left? Or is it the "Have Blue" prototype/research aircraft?
F117A test-bird
keen eye you have there, Dr
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DoctorEvil
·
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Lépine
·I've apparently a soft spot on my head for these Japanese war plane data plates. I am trying to collect data plates for only IJN aircraft that may have been used by the Longines Weems pilots. So far B4M, A6M, D4Y are likely.
A=Fighter plane
B=Bomber
D=Dive Bomber
Center Number=Major Design Platform
M=Mitsubishi/Nakajima
Y=Yokosuka
NumberFarRight=Generation of Platform
Dash=The variant
Working on a third one. This is the first generation D4Y1 Judy. Apparently very fast and maneuverable. The Yokosuka D4Y1 was a good looking plane. Only one still exists. There is an odd ball D4Y1 frame finished as a D4Y3 because there wasn't enough of the D4Y1 left apparently. So this data plate is pretty rare considering there were only 660 of the copy of the German aircraft built by Yokosuka to begin with.
The rare data plate is one its way so hopefully I can pick out a frame to put all of my data plates into one.
These planes had tail gunners. This is the only existing complete D4Y1.
The Judy was a faster aircraft than even the Mitsubishi Zero. The first
generation was an inline engine copy of the Daimler Benz.
The later generations switched to the radial engine.
This is at the Yasukuni Temple. Can you see the tail gun?
Now the harder part... how to find the F6F Hellcat data plate...
And a Spitfire would would be a bonus, but since they weren't
really in the Pacific War, priority is with getting a Hellcat.
Watch with strap is IJN 946
A=Fighter plane
B=Bomber
D=Dive Bomber
Center Number=Major Design Platform
M=Mitsubishi/Nakajima
Y=Yokosuka
NumberFarRight=Generation of Platform
Dash=The variant
Working on a third one. This is the first generation D4Y1 Judy. Apparently very fast and maneuverable. The Yokosuka D4Y1 was a good looking plane. Only one still exists. There is an odd ball D4Y1 frame finished as a D4Y3 because there wasn't enough of the D4Y1 left apparently. So this data plate is pretty rare considering there were only 660 of the copy of the German aircraft built by Yokosuka to begin with.
The rare data plate is one its way so hopefully I can pick out a frame to put all of my data plates into one.
These planes had tail gunners. This is the only existing complete D4Y1.
The Judy was a faster aircraft than even the Mitsubishi Zero. The first
generation was an inline engine copy of the Daimler Benz.
The later generations switched to the radial engine.
This is at the Yasukuni Temple. Can you see the tail gun?
Now the harder part... how to find the F6F Hellcat data plate...
And a Spitfire would would be a bonus, but since they weren't
really in the Pacific War, priority is with getting a Hellcat.
Watch with strap is IJN 946
Edited:
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DoctorEvil
·@Seiji
Can we have a closer look at the watches with dial up please? I'm assuming they're Japanese pilot watches. Interested in what make and model they are, if you have this info. Thanks in advance 👍
Can we have a closer look at the watches with dial up please? I'm assuming they're Japanese pilot watches. Interested in what make and model they are, if you have this info. Thanks in advance 👍
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Lépine
·@Seiji
Can we have a closer look at the watches with dial up please? I'm assuming they're Japanese pilot watches. Interested in what make and model they are, if you have this info. Thanks in advance 👍
Only these two are Imperial Japanese Navy Navigation/Reconnaissance watches. Reference 4356 Order 20853. 843 is in John Goldberger's Book "Legendary Watches Longines"
IJN 946 and 832. 832 is the one in the book. 946 has been skimmed on the outside but the numbers are still visible on the inside of the caseback.
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DoctorEvil
·Only these two are Imperial Japanese Navy Navigation/Reconnaissance watches. Reference 4356 Order 20853. One is in John Goldberger's Book "Legendary Watches Longines"
IJN
1. It was sold by Longines USA to the IJN prior to the outbreak of hostilities on December 7th 1941.
2. The size of that watch is quite large, with a case diameter of 47.5mm. It reminds me of the "big pilot" watches that IWC manufactured for the German Luftwaffe in WW2.
3. The watch has a second crown at the 4 o'clock position to rotate the centre minute dial, presumably to help the pilot keep track of elapsed time accurately. I find this to be quite a useful feature in a pilot's watch.
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Lépine
·I have IWC Große Fliegeruhr ref 431
I have two B-uhren FL23883
As far as size...my 1950 Zlatoustovsky 191 ChS is the biggest. Makes you walk funny. Weight feels like 300g pendulum. Dial looks like made of wood?
I have two B-uhren FL23883
As far as size...my 1950 Zlatoustovsky 191 ChS is the biggest. Makes you walk funny. Weight feels like 300g pendulum. Dial looks like made of wood?
Edited:
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Lépine
·Have you seen these? None are mine.
If you like to see Japanese military pilot watches, these are remarkable.
If you like to see Japanese military pilot watches, these are remarkable.
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Lépine
·That's a pretty special watch you have there, if it's been featured in a book. A few things about it that I find interesting:
1. It was sold by Longines USA to the IJN prior to the outbreak of hostilities on December 7th 1941.
2. The size of that watch is quite large, with a case diameter of 47.5mm. It reminds me of the "big pilot" watches that IWC manufactured for the German Luftwaffe in WW2.
3. The watch has a second crown at the 4 o'clock position to rotate the centre minute dial, presumably to help the pilot keep track of elapsed time accurately. I find this to be quite a useful feature in a pilot's watch.
The British RAF trained the Japanese around WW1 era. The Japanese adopted several technologies during the Sino-Japanese war. The Americans ( P.V.H. Weem, Bausch and Lomb, Edwin Link) supplied watches, bubble sextants, Celestial Navigation Training, CNT trainers and flight simulators to the Imperial Japanese. I did the research I found the documents in the Smithsonian and San Diego Air and Space Museum.
Basically, the American Navy and British RAF trained the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy how to build airplanes and fly time. America also supplied the aluminum used in some of the earlier WW2 aircraft to Yokosuka for manufacturing of fighter planes.
I had met many "collectors" that could not figure out why the Longines Weems were delivered to Wittnauer in New York and how or if the Japanese really received them. Many told me that the Japanese never got the Longines.
The correct answer is that Wittnauer ordered the Weems and P.V.H. Weem most likely supplied them to the Imperial Japanese. There is war department correspondance I found references to order P.V.H. Weems to stop communications to the Japanese. You can find all of it in my Historical Watch thread in the Longines sub forum. It's posted there. Of course Japanese would need to know how to use the watches or there would be no need to buy them. They were all accepted by the Imperial Japanese Navy and ordered by Tateyama and Yokosuka Armory. The Yokosuka Armory was the equivalent of Lockheed Skunkworks for the time. Many experimental aircraft was developed there.
https://omegaforums.net/threads/anyone-have-a-historical-watch.145564/
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Lépine
·
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Lépine
·
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Lépine
·
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Lépine
·So I posted a lot of items afterwards and did not explain them. I thought they were pretty self explanatory. So as you can see from all the above bits of information. The Japanese military aviation program started very early, only a couple of years behind the US and British. Japan bought aircraft from the Europeans and British to learn how the canvass covered wooden frames actually didn't break apart. Japanese actually developed the first Celestial Tables that P.V.H. Weems later improved and greatly expanded. So there was a tight relationship between P.V.H. Weems and the Imperial Japanese Navy. Weems was all to happy to share all of his knowledge to anyone who would listen to him. Imperial Japan saw the importance of the technology and so bought Bausch and Lomb bubble sextants and the Link flight simulator to learn how to instrument navigate. Japan was a far ahead of the US at one point in terms of navy and air power prior to Pearl Harbor.
Japan was buying the Longines 47mm Weems watches at the latest 1937 all the way to 1940. They bought both Civil Time and Sidereal Time versions. The Seikosha Tensoku watch is a sliming down of Longines Weems. It does basically the same thing. So here we have a air crew member which in my opinion is a reconnaissance pilot. He has maps, notes, the navigation watch, and it appears a bubble sextant on his right leg. This is a 1942 uniform and he is wearing a Seikosha. Note the Kikusui rank patch on his left arm, that and no buttons on his cuffs indicate this is 1942 or afterwards.
Japan was buying the Longines 47mm Weems watches at the latest 1937 all the way to 1940. They bought both Civil Time and Sidereal Time versions. The Seikosha Tensoku watch is a sliming down of Longines Weems. It does basically the same thing. So here we have a air crew member which in my opinion is a reconnaissance pilot. He has maps, notes, the navigation watch, and it appears a bubble sextant on his right leg. This is a 1942 uniform and he is wearing a Seikosha. Note the Kikusui rank patch on his left arm, that and no buttons on his cuffs indicate this is 1942 or afterwards.
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DoctorEvil
·@Seiji
Thanks for the explanations. Most informative.
I would agree with you regarding Japanese naval aviation being at the forefront around the time of Pearl Harbour. The Zero-sen was arguably the world's best carrier borne fighter at the time. It was fast, manoeuvrable, and had a long range, which allowed it to pop up in places that people didn't expect.
Thanks for the explanations. Most informative.
I would agree with you regarding Japanese naval aviation being at the forefront around the time of Pearl Harbour. The Zero-sen was arguably the world's best carrier borne fighter at the time. It was fast, manoeuvrable, and had a long range, which allowed it to pop up in places that people didn't expect.
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DoctorEvil
·Guilty as charged, except mine was a Piper Cherokee 😁
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DoctorEvil
·
Image courtesy of Aviation Humour via Facebook 😁
