I THINK THAT ANY INTELLIGENT THINKING PERSON WOULD SEE THE LOGIC OF A EVEN WELL BALANCED APPROACH WHICH IS PRETTY MUCH WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO DATE. The old-timers in the Imperial Japanese Navy were battleship queens, and it was thanks to them that Japan constructed two expensive but supremely useless super-battleships, Yamato and Musashi, both sunk before their crews even knew the way to the wardroom. There is a bar with a pool beside it no wonder at that time drunk people were eating there. Physically, the G4Ms salient feature was a fat but graceful fuselage quite unlike the tapering configuration of typical WWII medium bombers. CERTAINLY GIVEN THE HIGH COST OF RECOVERY IN PNG AND I FAIL TO SEE HOW ANYONE CAN MAKE A PROFIT. Bettys Dream first flew in March of 1999 including its new bomb bay doors which were taken off while it was being used as a fire bomber. Mitsubishi said the bomber would need four engines to accomplish that, but the IJNAS insisted on a twin-engine configuration. Flames erupted from the Betty's fuselage, the nose dropped, and the bomber dived into the Pacific, exploding on impact. It carried a huge explosive charge, and bore large wooden tailfins that stabilized it in flight and broke away when the torpedo entered the water. Our B-25 is painted in honor of Capt. "leaf roll") due to the cylindrical shape of its fuselage. What are the Museum's Salvage Guidelines? Casualties were horrific. for Alfred Hagen, CLARIFICATION The press ran articles of stolen RAAF aircraft and alike. Tell About Yourself and your background In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. The fuselage Hinomaru was outlined with a white square. The Airacomet was the first jet aircraft in U.S. service, and this example, s/n 12-108777, is believed to be the tenth airframe in the production run. It was not recovered, rather restored in Arizona & flew itself to Australia and is registered as VH-EAG, Papua I DONATED A PILE OF [ P-47D "Frankie" 42-8130 ] AND P-40 STUFF [P-40K and P-40K] TO PIMA [ Air & Space Museum ] A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO BY WAY OF DONATION. To meet the requirements, a Mitsubishi design team led by Kiro Honjo crafted an airplane called the G4M with fuel tanks in the wings that were not resistant to explosion when punctured during combat. CLARIFICATION SIMILARLY THERE IS LITTLE POINT IN BRINGING UP UNDERWATER WRECKS UNLESS THEY ARE RARE ONE OFF'S. Six escorting Zeros flew guard but in a matter of seconds, the Air Corps pilots shrugged off the escorting fighters and sent both BETTYs crashing down in flames. (Michael Jordan/BPE) "The aircraft sat in that field until the 90s when it was . Unknown to the crew of the Abele, the G4Ms carried the new single-seat, piloted flying bombs in their open bomb bays. IT IS TRULY ONE OF THE MOST MAGICAL COUNTRIES ON THE PLANET The savings in airframe weight allowed the G4M to attack targets at unprecedented ranges. The fuselage was streamlined but rotund to allow space for a bomb bay within the wing center section and to allow the 7 to 9-man crew to move about. I SPEND A LOT OF MY OWN MONEY ON PRESERVING HISTORY. Japan's newest and most advanced bomber made the trip, disassembled and stacked on five ox-drawn farm carts, over unpaved roads! The BETTY bomber crews had to fly within about 23 miles (37 km) of a target due to the Ohka 11's limited range. The end result was Yamamoto's Betty crashing into the jungle just west of Buin, killing all . Number built: 1,486 (470 D3A1), (1,016 D3A2) The Aichi D3A, Allied reporting name "Val" was a World War II carrier-borne dive bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Japanese Navy pilots called it "" Hamaki (Cigar), due to its cylindrical shape. Flights will be offered on the third Saturday of each month subject to any weather or mechanical/maintenance restrictions. Like its stablemate, Mitsubishi's Zero Fighter (see NASM collection for two examples), the Hamaki soldiered on long after it became obsolete, even dangerous, to fly wherever Allied interceptors prowled. (AAF) The two Betty bombers made their way to Ie Shima along a route clearly delineated in a Japanese message to the Allied Command. Clear front, dorsal and rear turret canopies. The PNG Museum's motto is 'Preserve and protect PNG's unique cultural, national & contemporary heritage' How does your work help this aim? This is there opinion and they are entitled to argue it. We have an ever-expanding assortment of planes from the Golden Age of the 1920s and 1930s, including several that represent the last of their kind. Not a single Betty survives as anything more than a battered, partial hulka situation unique among warbirds built in such numbers and active in so much combat. We called her Betty. With no work done to date on P-38 project. Those procurement officers were aware of the airplanes main flaw but chose to accept it, dooming many crews. THE REST OF THE MATERIAL WAS ACQUIRED BY 75TH SQUADRON IN MELBOURNE. The PNG Museum's motto is 'Preserve and protect PNG's unique cultural, national & contemporary heritage' How does your work help this aim? I BELIEVE PEOPLE WILL ENJOY IT. The G4M series was begun late in 1937 at the request of the Japanese Navy, which wanted a land-based bomber that was even better . The Mitsubishi G4M1, or "Betty Bomber" aircraft lies 20 metres underwater at the Truk Lagoon. You have completed projects related to aircraft, but none with PNG aircraft yet. Robert Greinert is an Australian Rather, locals remember the P-47 disappearing. If that doesn't work then go into gmod and redownload the mod. Anson Interior. Co-piloted by Victor Tatelman, it escorted two Betty bombers carrying the Japanese peace envoys to Ie Shima on August 19, 1945, and again on the return mission from the conference in Manila with General MacArthurs staff. Interview April 2006. Despite a distinct military bent, my work over the last 30 years in vintage aviation has been about preserving aviation objects for future generations. When salvaged, they are not always for historical value, often as 'parts' for larger restorations to be bought, sold & traded and only used as patterns or to copy. from Canada Every one knew they were there and no one did anything about it. Since the model is optimized for 1/900th scale, it is not ideal to print larger versions due to a lack of detail. Its official designation is Mitsubishi Navy Type 1 attack bomber (, Ichishiki rikuj kgeki ki, Isshikirikuk) and was commonly referred to by Japanese Navy pilots as Hamaki (, "cigar", lit. Or, is it always cheaper to recover a 'real' wreck than to make new ones? I developed a longing to own a WWII fighter to fly but never imagined it possible. OBVIOUSLY THAT CANT BE ACHIEVED FOR ALL WRECKS AS THERE WOULD NO WHERE TO PUT ALL THE DC3'S FOR EXAMPLE. This aircraft shot down a "Zero" and a "Betty" bomber over New Guinea in 1943. Wendell Hanson flew many B-25s in the war, and many variants, At Sioux Falls last summer, a good friend of Alan happened to find us, and we were thrilled to see him! The nose art features Betty Grable, the number one pinup girl of the World War II era.The aircraft's name takes after a song made very popular by Doris Day in 1945. From the first day of war until after the surrender, BETTY bombers saw service throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It was the first time that aircraft alone had sunk fully maneuverable capital ships at sea. AS I AM FINANCIALLY INDEPENDEDENT I DONT HAVE ANY NEED OR DESIRE TO PLAY THE COLLECTOR MARKET. [in late April, early May 2006 B-17E 41-2446 aka 'Swamp Ghost' was salvaged. For the Betty, however, it was all downhill from there. The Air Force would not let . In July 1937, the new Mitsubishi G3M bomber (Allied codename NELL) went into service in China. TWO AIRCRAFT, [P-38F Lightning 42-12647] AND [ Ki-61 Tony 640 ] ARE UNDER RESTORATION FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE PNG MUSEUM. Terms & Conditions; Privacy Policy Meet Americas Highest Scoring Living Fighter Ace. At the age of 17 I came across an article in Air Classics magazine outlining the recovery of a P-39 Airacobra [P-39 "Erminie" 41-6951, actually recovered by CART and aquired by Beck] in North Queensland by Syd Beck. Tail code "370" and later "-321". He took over work on the Betty after returning from a fact-finding trip to the U.S. in 1938. Navy crews suffered 4,300 fatalities and 5,400 casualties, or seven percent of all crew casualties incurred during the entire Pacific war. It was recovered from New Guinea in 1991 by warbird salvager Bruce Fenstermaker, in a joint venture with the Santa Monica Museum of Flying. 1/900th scale G4M Betty Bomber model. Mention the Australian Beaufighters recovered. Pacific Wrecks has been in contact with Greinert since 2000, and emailed him questions and clarification related to all wrecks he is involved with, and he has reviewed information related to his activities. Due to these qualities, it was a symbol of Japanese naval aviation. LIKE I SAID, ANYBODY INTERESTED IN THIS SORT OF WORK SHOULD APPLY TO THE MUSEUM FOR A SET OF GUIDELINES. In the tail, he introduced a 20 mm cannon. The crash caused her to be thrown out of her vehicle, and as well as suffering from severe burns, Betty had a broken pelvis . You have completed projects related to aircraft, but none with PNG aircraft yet. In the early 80s a decision was made by a group within HARS to recover and return to Sydney a pair of very corroded and incomplete Bristol Beaufighters [A19-144 and A19-148] in Western Australia. The museum displays the only complete Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bomber in a setting depicting the way it was located in the jungle. Like a lot of people I became involved in aviation via plastic kits. I was thinking of entitling it "What the F". yourself or projects published? Fortunately for the Bettys engineering team, Mitsu came up with a new 1,530-hp, 14-cylinder, twin-row radial with half again as much grunt as its predecessor had offered. Casualties were horrific. Some sources claim that Japan bought the original Douglas DC-4 prototype, the unsuccessful triple-tail design called the DC-4E, to serve as a model for a four-engine G4M. However, by calculating the speed of the Japanese G4M Betty bomber that would carry Yamamoto, probable wind speed, the enemy's probable flight path, and assuming that Yamamoto would be as . The Sikorsky S-43 at the Pima Air and Space Museum, would not have survived had it not been for aircraft recovery pioneers such as Gary Larkins. The saga of this recovery would fill a book but needless to say we succeeded, despite the determined efforts of others, and today we have a Mk 21 Beaufighter under rebuild for the HARS flying collection. Mitsubishi G4M Betty of 4 Kokutai at low level flight. Pre-Owned. ONCE AGAIN THESE ARE ISSUES FOR GOVERNMENT TO DECIDE ONCE AGAIN IT WAS GREAT TO SEE THE MATERIAL SAVED AND THE STORY OF THE 5TH AIR FORCE PRESERVED BACK IN AMERICA. Few would know it by its official designation, the Navy Type 1 Attack Bomber. What projects are you involved and accountable with the PNG Museum? The first G4M prototype left the factory in September 1939 and made the trek to Kagamigahara Airfield since Mitsubishi's Nagoya plant had no company airstrip. Many websites are hungry for content and if you dont feed them, they run off to secondary sources for there information. What projects are you involved and accountable with the PNG Museum? RESTORATION IS BEING CONDUCTED TO THE HIGHEST MUSEUM STANDARDS WITH EXTREME EMPHASIS ON ORIGINALITY AND COMPLETENESS. WHEN I ACQUIRED [from Girua Airport, [P-47D 41-27608] IN 1998 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT HAD ASKED THE LANDOWNERS TO REMOVE TO AIRCRAFT FROM THE AIRPORT DUE TO IT BEING IN THE WAY FOR A PROPOSED TERMINAL EXTENSION. Mitsubishi produced a total of 2,414 G4M airplanes but few remained when the war ended on August 15, 1945. history and its preservation", Anson Nose Section ON MY FIRST VISIT TO POPPONDETTA I WAS APPROACHED BY THE LANDOWNERS WHO DID NOT HAVE THE RESOURCES TO MOVE IT AND WERE FEARFULL OF THE AIRCRAFT BEING SCRAPPED. Drum-fed from an archaic 47-round pancake magazine atop the gun, the Lewis had a long history of aviation use. The American system of nicknaming World War II Japanese aircraft gave female names to bombers, male names to fighters. Our B-25 was never accepted by the USAAF. Mitsubishi G4M2 captured at Clark Field 2. NONE THAT COME TO MIND. THE MEMORY OF OUR FATHERS IS NOT SERVED WELL BY A PILE OF CUT SCRAP THAT HAS BEEN DRAGGED IN FROM THE BUSH AND SMELTED IN THE LOCAL SCRAPYARD. What do you consider yourself: As the war dragged on, improved bombers failed to materialize so Mitsubishi fielded different versions of the G4M to fulfill new missions, and to eliminate the various weaknesses in the basic design. The recovery of aircraft is never an easy task and it was a great thrill to be part of one of aviation's great adventures with the recovery of the Super Constellation VH-EAG from the Tucson desert. 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