Warbird Information Exchange

Just thinking about the warbird world and the projects out there. Does anyone know if there is anyone restoring a Mitsubishi G4M Betty bomber? I think that if one showed up at an airshow, it would draw the larges amount of people ever for an airshow. Just think of a B-17 flying by with a Betty on it's wing.

I remember seeing a piece in Air Comics years ago about one being restored over seas somewhere, Japan I think, Not sure if it was going to be a flyer or not. The Museum of Flying had one back in the early 90's also, I think it's the one that Planes of Fame has on display

Eric,
Sounds like you made it back home OK. Did your cargo fair well? Nice to meet you and talk with you. Stay in touch.
David
WHF Maint

David,

I made it back this morning at 1am. Everything made it back ok. Many THANKS for the items and hope to see you at an airshow soon. I will be in touch.

Eric

Some pics of Harada-san's Betty tail section:

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/people/restore/harada.html

_________________
It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

I think there is another Mitsubishi G4M Betty in the jungles of New Guinia and is perhaps the most famous one of all because its the plane Admiral Yamamoto was shot down in by P-38 Lightnings. I heard the natives over there refuse to let anyone salvage it because its considered sacred ground and is a tourist attraction. The crash site is protected by their government. The only other Betty I know about is the one that Kermit Weeks has in his collection. Not sure if he has any plans to restore it to flying condition or not.

Jim

it's a pitty he doesn't have the rest of it...

there is something about japaneese warbirds that does it for me.

AFAIK, the only recovered Bettys are Mr. Harada's G4M2 tail section, the Smithsonian's G4M2 forward fuselage, and a G4M1 wreck in a museum out west (Planes of Fame?) Of course, there are various jungle wrecks, but they'd be about as easy to recover as the Swamp Ghost.

As for Yamamoto's Betty, the wreck was mostly conusmed by a post-crash fire. One outer wing was recovered some years ago and is in a Japanese museum, and I believe the tail section and engines are still at the crash site (although one book I have says the wreckage was moved around and piled together by loggers a few years ago.) At one time there was a small Shinto shrine at the site..don't know if it's still there.

I'd love to see some of the Japanese aircraft hulks salvaged before they completely disappear, particularly bombers. I've seen recent (within the last 10-15 years) photos of reasonably complete G3Ns, Ki-21s and Ki-49s..with today's technology they'd definately candidates at least for static museum restorations.

I was flipping through a book called "War Prizes," and was amazed at the number and variety of Japanese aircraft (including multi-engine bombers) that were broght to the U.S. and flight-tested. Unfortunately, almost all were scrapped..including the G8N "Rita," which sat at Patterson Field into the late '40s. The Smithsonian had a complete Betty, but all except the forward fuselage was scrapped in the '50s due to lack of storage space.


SN

I would like to see more Japanese bombers preserved for future generations to enjoy. If there are enough parts of Betty's still around, I'm sure one or several could be reversed engineered and built as replicas. The Airplane Factory down in Texas is building three Nakajima KI-43 Oscar fighter replicas. I'm sure someone could build a Betty bomber replica if there are enough parts available to be copied. Even finding a Mitsubishi KI-67 Hiryu (Allied Codenamed "Peggy) bomber would be a great find. The Peggy was considered by many to be the Japanese best bomber of the war. It was remarkably maneuverable for it size, extremely versatile and a very tough opponent even when compared to the best Allied warplanes in its class. The Kamakaze version of the Peggy proved to be the most destructive Kamakaze type ever used in combat.

Jim

Is that the type that crashed into the Franklin??

Lynn

i have no idea about the politics of recovering them but these G4M's look like they would be a good start for restoration projects

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/g4m/2806.html

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/g4m/2671.html

henry

Its a shame to see these great warriors being slowly turned back to the earth. It seems that axis bombers are the rarest and most valuable. It would be nice to see a Peggy and a Betty flying together.

I can see it now! It will be called "The Rising Sun Air Museum" (RSAM)

Bombers:
Betty, Peggy, Ginga, Nell, and many others too!


Of course all flying!

also a rita,mavis,emily(need a large lake )escorted by frank's tony's(these will fly in time) oscar's,george's ,rufe,pete,rex(back to the lake)jack,one of each zeroand to put the cat amongst the pidgeon's an a7m reppu.
welcome to my dream paul

Given that no multi-engined Axis bomber of any type has been rebuilt to fly since W.W.II anywhere in the world*, the dollars don't (sadly) support the 'valuable' idea. Rare yes, financially valuable (as compared to another restoration of yet another P-51D) no. Historically valuable yes.


It would. How many millions of dollars are you prepared to put towards it? And given the end product would be worth a fraction of that cash in resale value, it's a highly unlikely scenario.

Pity.

*Postwar Casa 2111s with British Merlin engines and transport Ju52/3ms don't really count, I'm afraid. If I've missed any, Mike will let us know.

_________________
James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Yes. Thats the type that crashed into the carrier USS Ben Franklin and it killed 1,100 US sailors during the Battle of Okinawa. I think one also crashed into one of the British carriers too, but it did not do much damage due to their carrier's armored decks. It just bounced off their deck more less without penetrating below deck. The British were smart putting armoured decks onto their carriers over our Navy carrier's wooden decks.

Jim