Warbird Information Exchange

... with a "suspicious" scheme. Might be NAS Alameda in these photos. Not sure.
Here's what Wiki has to say:

"The Aichi E16A Zuiun ("Auspicious Cloud", Allied reporting name "Paul") was a two-seat reconnaissance seaplane operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

Design and development

The Aichi E16A originated from a 1939 specification for a replacement for the Aichi E13A, which at that time had yet to be accepted by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS). Disagreements about the requirements in the 14-Shi specification prevented most manufacturers from submitting designs, but in 1941 a new 16-Shi specification was drafted by the IJNAS around the Aichi AM-22 design which had already been made by Aichi engineers Kishiro Matsuo and Yasuhiro Ozawa. The first AM-22, which first got the experimental designation Navy Experimental 16-Shi Reconnaissance Seaplane and later the short designation E16A1, was completed by May 1942 and was a conventional, low-wing monoplane equipped with two floats and had the unusual (for a seaplane) feature of being equipped with dive brakes, located in the front legs of the float struts, to allow it to operate in a secondary role as a dive bomber."


Before when the crude stars & bars were applied. (looks photoshopped)


After the crude stars & bars were painted over.

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Zero Surprise!!...

Nope! those stars applied look to be the real deal back then.

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Zero Surprise!!...

Here's a nice rendering of the thing. I'm of the opinion the Japanese came up with some real nice looking float planes back in the day. Too bad so few survived.

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Zero Surprise!!...

I reckon the first photo is after the stars and bars were painted out, either roughly with paint, or with the Forties version of Photoshop. The panel behind the engine mount looks to have been straightened, but the missing panel above it appears to have been filled in with pencil. Looks pretty certain that the aeroplane hasn't been moved between shots.

I'm guessing this one didn't survive the cull?

Cheers,
Matt

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Matt Austin - playing with warbirds since the early 80s.

See my Lee-Enfield videos at - http://www.youtube.com/user/Jollygreenslugg

Thanks kindly Matt, you are correct indeed. (and corrected) Unusual to see it happen the other way back then as usually the stars & bars were applied after.

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Zero Surprise!!...

Phil Butler's "War Prizes" lists this aircraft on page 255, with a picture showing the stars and bars. Text is as follows:

"70 Aichi E16A2 'Paul'
Navy Reconnaissance Seaplane Zuiun

The single-engine two-seat seaplane, aircraft '16' of the 634th Kokutai (i.e. coded '634-16'), was brought to the USA on board the USS Core in November 1945. The Zuiun was taken to NAS Patuxent River and transferred from there to NAS Norfolk on 8th January 1947 for onward shipment to Floyd Bennett Field, New York, for use as a static exhibit. No further record."

The number 70 is thought to be a number assigned to the aircraft by the USN, according to the author. I does not sound like the aircraft survived after that. Does anyone have photos of a display at Floyd Bennett Field in 1947? Hope that helps.

Randy

An edit: I just noticed that the caption for the photo in the above book lists the location as Floyd Bennett Field. It shows a right-front quarter view with what looks like a bridge in the left background.