Yamamoto's Betty wrecksite open to visitors again...

[Warbirdnerd]

The World War II crash site of a military plane carrying Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who masterminded the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour, has been opened to visitors in Bougainville for the first time in more than five years.

Yamamoto's plane was gunned down by allied forces in 1943, sending the Mitsubishi G4M 'Betty' crashing down into the thick jungle of Papua New Guinea's autonomous Bougainville region.

Access to the site at Kokopo village, in the region's Buin district, had been closed due to a land dispute between rival clans.

But the area recently reopened, with local tourism operators hoping this year — the 70th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War — would result an increase in the number of international visitors.

"The plane is still sitting there in the jungle. But at the moment, the people there have made gardens close to the site," John Bolsco, owner of Bougainville Experience Tours, told Pacific Beat, adding the area was being cleared.

"We're having a lot of inquiries, people are already booking with us to see the site. But most of them haven't confirmed the dates to come in."

Interest in the war strategist and Japanese navy commander is as strong as ever, particularly among the growing number of Japanese tourist travelling to the Pacific to learn more about their military past.

"For Japanese people, it's one of the most significant World War II history sites around," Mr Bolsco said.

He said visitors would not be deterred by the long travel time or land disputes surrounding the crash site.

"We have a network with the locals. For Yamamoto crash site, we have connection with them so every time when people want to go there, we tell them there are people coming in, so they prepare themselves," Mr Bolsco said.

"I think people coming here, they will not have any problems with security."

Yamamoto's legacy remains

Yamamoto is remembered for his role in the attack on Peal Harbour in the US, which left more 2,400 Americans dead and another 1,000 people injured.

"Yamamoto is the most exalted hero in the imperial Japanese navy's history. And he's been untainted by Japan's defeat, and he's been untainted and any hint of war crimes," US

naval historian Mark Stille said.

"He remains a hero in Japan today."

Yamamoto was instrumental in planning the attack on Pearl Harbour, which was not a strategic priority of the Japanese navy until he agitated for it.

"Here's a man who thought he knew the American psyche. He thought that by — putting it simply — sinking a few battleships that he would shock the Americans into a negotiated peace," Mr Stille said.

"Of course the exact opposite thing happened. Had the Japanese stuck to their strategy, perhaps occupying the Philippines on their way to Malaysia and Singapore, and the areas down south, that they had to have for the oil they needed to break the US embargo.

"Had they done that there would have been a different US reaction."

Yamamoto was shot down after American code-breakers found out he was planning to visit troops stationed off Bougainville.

Found it here:
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-1 ... rs/6466058

[JohnB]

"Here's a man who thought he knew the American psyche. He thought that by — putting it simply — sinking a few battleships that he would shock the Americans into a negotiated peace," Mr Stille said.


Isn't that assessment is at odds to the general view of Yamamoto......that he thought America was the "Sleeping giant" and the Pacific war would end badly for Japan?
I think he thought that a victory at Pearl Harbor would give the IJN time to consolidate holdings in the Pacific, but any ideas that the US would cede the Pacific (or at least the Western Pacific) was wishful thinking by "higher ups" in Tokyo.

[Left Seat]

Background of the plane, crew, and passengers:

G4M1 Model 11 Betty Manufacture Number 2656 Tail T1-323

Shot Down April 18, 1943 at roughly 8:00am

Pilot Warrant Officer Takeo Koyani (KIA)
Chief Pilot Flight Warrant Officer Takeo Kotani (KIA)
Co-Pilot Chief Flight Seaman Akiharu Ozaki (KIA)
Engineer Flight Petty Officer Haruo Ueda (KIA)
Radio Flight Petty Officer Nobuo Hara (KIA)
Radar / front gunner Flight Petty Officer Minoru Tanaka (KIA)
Asst Radio / scanner / top gunner Chief Flight Seaman Mitsuo Ueno (KIA)
Tail Gunner Chief Flight Seaman Harumasa Kobayashi (KIA)
Passenger Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (KIA)
Passenger Rear Admiral Takata, Chief Surgeon Combined Fleet (KIA)
Passenger Cdr Kurio Toibana, Staff Office (KIA)
Passenger Cdr Noburu Fukusaki, Yamamoto Aide (KIA)

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/g4m/2656.html

[Zac Yates]

I didn't realise there was so much wreckage left. I hope to get there one day, and I hope the elements don't make it deteriorate further. Thanks for sharing, and thanks to those responsible for making the site open to visit again.

[sandiego89]

I didn't realise there was so much wreckage left.

Wow, me neither KZ. Thought there would be nothing left. Neat to see it as it.

Left Seat- thanks for the list of crew- sad how history never remembers the rest of the story.

[Steve Nelson]

According to a book I read on the shootdown (don't recall the author) the crash site was clear-cut by loggers some years back, and they piled the remaining wreckage off to one side. So the site is hardly pristine. It'd be nice if they built some sort structure to get the wreckage out of the direct weather. Not necessarily a full-blown museum, just something to reduce further deterioration.

SN

[ALOHADAVE]

Reprinted from a visitor who made it to the crash site

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/tonywheeler ... aft_wreck/
Saturday, 25 February 2012

Yamamoto's Aircraft Wreck
The Japanese advance across the Pacific had been turned round at Guadalcanal in the Solomons and the Americans were now advancing north. On 13 April 1943 from his base at Rabaul on the Papua New Guinea island of New Britain, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto set out on a morale boosting tour of Japanese front line positions. Yamamoto was the mastermind behind the attack on Pearl Harbor, which meant he was about as popular with Americans as Osama bin Laden would be 60 years later.

In a twin-engined Mitsubishi G4M bomber, known as a ‘Betty’, and accompanied by another Betty and six Zero fighter escorts, Yamamoto would fly from Rabaul to Balalae in the Solomon Islands, visit Shortland by boat, return to Balalae and fly to Buin and then continue to Rabaul, arriving back 9 hours after his dawn departure. Unfortunately for the admiral the Americans had broken the secret Japanese code and deciphered a navy message detailing his plans.
As Yamamoto flew south 16 US P38 Lightnings were heading north from Honiara to intercept him. Yamamoto’s Betty descended towards Balalae – where I flew in last week – right on schedule and the US aircraft arrived with equally meticulous timing. The end result was Yamamoto’s Betty crashing into the jungle just west of Buin, killing all 12 on board.

Not until 2011, when Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, would there be a similar targeted killing of US enemy number one. Yamamoto’s death did great damage to Japanese morale, but until it was announced in the following month the Americans were unable to publicise their victory because that would have revealed they had broken the navy code.
After I arrived in Buin, having crossed from Shortland by sea, I definitely wanted to visit the crash site. It didn’t prove easy, although the wreckage has been in the jungle for nearly 70 years the local landowners decided to get into a dispute over whose land it was on. My guides from Buin discussed the situation with one side of the dispute and then the other, but neither side would budge. I offered to pay both sides, but they still refused. They’d rather have their dispute than the money.

I was very disappointed, to come all that way and be turned back only 4km – 2-1/2 miles – from the site. But there was one final ace up my sleeve. I’d met Albert, the local BRA (Bougainville Revolutionary Army) commander. A phone call (good mobile coverage around Buin), a quick drive to Albert’s nearby village and an hour later we were walking through the jungle with Albert in the lead. Local authority and a very big bushknife!

About 100 metres before the wreck there were bits of bent aircraft beside the jungle track, presumably torn from the aircraft as it crashed down through the trees. At the main impact site the rear half of the aircraft was still reasonably intact, both engines with their bent propellers are still there, but the wreckage has been fairly comprehensively souvenired over the years. I could still clearly recognise it as a Betty. I’d seen a few Bettys in the preceding week.
To find the site on Google Earth my GPS location was S 06° 47.165’, E 155°33.137’ - for a comprehensive report on the event check the Pacific Wrecks website.
Filed under: My Lists

[CoastieJohn]

That would be a fun place to explore. I might be a little nervous going to a place where tribal tensions could be a little tense.

This pic was taken in 2013.

Japanese ZERO in small Memorial Park near KIETA Whalf, on BOUGAINVILLE in PNG


A 2003 pic.

[JohnB]

IIRC, there was a magazine (probably Air Classics since that is all we had in the US) photo layout on the remains back in the 70s...showing it as re-discovered.
The wiki entry on Yamamoto says parts were returned to Japan...but it doesn't say when those parts were collected. It reads like they were removed immediately.

[Steve Nelson]

From pacificwreck.com:

"The fuselage door, a section of the outer wing and Yamamoto's seat were recovered from the crash site during the 1970s. Other smaller relics were also salvaged, including one of the control columns, and the aircraft's manufacture number stencil were in the possession of RAAF 183rd Reconnaissance Flight, Pacific Island Regiment, based at Lae during the 1970s (the fate of these items today is unknown).

The fuselage door, outer wing panel and seat were donated and were displayed at The Air Museum of Papua New Guinea until it closed in the late 1970s and were transferred to the PNG Museum. In the 1990s, the outer wing panel and seat were placed on permanent loan to the Isoroku Yamamoto Memorial Hall & Museum."

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/g4m/2656.html

SN

[APG85]

Ordinarily, I'd say leave this wreck untouched. However, given the fact that the area has been 'clear-cut' and the wreckage has been moved, I think I would be in favor of recovering the wreckage and placing it in a museum. Eventually, it's going to be vandalized and disappear...

[tom d. friedman]

it's clear that the ruination process to the site is accelerated by the clearing of the foliage, & someone mentioned gardens at the site as well. it needs to go into a museum crash diorama asap as it's eventual destruction is assured from the pics presented.

[Steve Nelson]

Like the Lady Be Good, I don't think there's really enough left at the site to provide the material for a diorama. Many parts were removed over the years, and as you can see the tail numbers have been cut away. I agree what's left should go to a museum, but treated as stand-alone artifacts.

SN

[CoastieJohn]

Located this Youtube while looking for something else. It looks like one of the first visitors to the site when it opened up.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q_Io28IO3w

[ALOHADAVE]

Note the open again article was dated 13 MAY 2015
so it may be closed again by now