One for the Japanese aircraft experts

[RyanShort1]

Do you have any information that would help ID this aircraft?



I believe it was on Okinawa.

Ryan

[tom d. friedman]

looks like the tail of a sonia, an armed light observation aircraft with fixed landing gear. used by japanese army air force.

[RyanShort1]

looks like the tail of a sonia, an armed light observation aircraft with fixed landing gear. used by japanese army air force.

What would that have been doing on Okinawa in 1945?

Ryan

[Holedigger]

Getting blown up!

[RyanShort1]

Getting blown up!

Sure... What gets me is the apparent "kill" (?) marking on the tail, as well as the pirate marking. Thought maybe someone would recognize it.

Ryan

[OZFURYFAN]

Hi Ryan,I thought it looked more like an Oscar's tail,the kill marking could also be a japanese symbol or letter???Cheers,Pete

[warbird1]

looks like the tail of a sonia, an armed light observation aircraft with fixed landing gear. used by japanese army air force.

What would that have been doing on Okinawa in 1945?

Ryan

I was going to say a Sonia as well, but I'm not positive as to the ID. If I'm not mistaken a lot of the Japanese trainers and old, obsolete aircraft were flown from the home islands to aid in the defense of Okinawa for use as Kamikaze's.

Hopefully David Aiken will see this and offer his opinion!

[tom d. friedman]

the airplane marking & skull insignia intrigue my interest too!! no way to speculate as to the plane marking!! it could have been an aerial kill, or 1 on the ground, with the ground scenario being more realistic. that 1 we'll never know!! the skull is worth researching, could be a squadron insignia or an insignia representing a squadron pilot stand out. the sonia was lightly armed w/ 3 light machine guns. 1 in each wing & 1 aft flexible. speed around 225 mph. light ordinance could be hung from both wings such as anti personel bombs, flares, smoke, 100 lb gp bombs. it's mission was ground support & observation / low recon. a few are in museums in thailand, i think china, & definetely japan!!

[warbird1]

Hi Ryan,I thought it looked more like an Oscar's tail,the kill marking could also be a japanese symbol or letter???Cheers,Pete

I don't think that's an Oscar's tail at all. In the picture, the vertical stab and rudder are both nearly symmetrical on both the forward and trailing edge.

Look at this picture of the Oscar. The rudder is not symmetrical with the forward part of the vertical stab.

[tom d. friedman]

ki- 43 oscar tail is more rounded from 12 o'clock position to six o'clock position at the rudder. sonia's is more boxy.

[RyanShort1]

Yeah, I know what Oscars look like - there are some other pictures in the batch as well...

Like this Oscar which appears in a few different photos from different angles.



There are about 350+ pictures in the lot - mostly from a Liaison Squadron on Okinawa. Not a lot that most people would be interested in, but some good stuff from my point of view!

Hopefully David Aiken will see this and offer his opinion!

Oh, don't worry, I've already dropped him an email!

Ryan

[Steve Nelson]

Definitely a Ki-51 Sonia army cooperation aircraft. I believe the skull & crossbones was a marking used by Special Attack (Kamikaze) units, which is probably what it was doing on Okinawa. A lot of trainers, liaison, and obsolete types ended up being set aside for the final suicidal defense of the home islands. I think the cruciform "kill marking" is actually the character "E" from the Japanese katakana phonetic alphabet.

Ki-51 "Sonia"





The Katakana alphabet...



Cheers!

Steve

[verner]

Could possibly be a Ki-30 Ann. Tails were very similar.

[tom d. friedman]

while it could possibly be from an anne aircraft, i highly doubt it. that plane was beyond dinosaur status by 1945!!

[David_Aiken]

Ohayogozaimas Y'All,
Thank you for your kindwords to mention me in the passing.

The Skull mark is for a "Tokubetsu" (Special attack) unit with the Kanji character "home" (sort of a "tree on landscape"...the tree is the + with the land as the bottom _ portion under the plus sign). Perhaps the "home" has a seconmd kanji on the rudder...any shot of the other side?

HTH,
David