Re: Harada Restoration Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" - July 2013
Wed Mar 16, 2016 5:02 pm
Does the NASM have the entire aircraft or just the nose section?
Re: Harada Restoration Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" - July 2013
Wed Mar 16, 2016 7:18 pm
marine air wrote:Does the NASM have the entire aircraft or just the nose section?
If I remember the story correctly, a regretful decision was made decades ago, to cut the nose section off and scrap the rest of the plane. I believe this happened when the NASM collection was temporarily housed in an old aircraft plant near Chicago. When the Korean War broke out, the plant was needed for refurbishing B-29's and the the aircraft collection had to find a home...quick. This was when Paul Garber secured the land in Maryland that became Silver Hill (later named the Paul Garber Restoration and Storage Facility).
I think the crew at the storage facility in Chicago took it upon themselves to cut the nose off of the Betty and ship it to Maryland. They junked the rest.
Please correct me if I've gotten any of this wrong.
Re: Harada Restoration Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" - July 2013
Thu Mar 17, 2016 7:30 am
APG85 wrote:marine air wrote:Does the NASM have the entire aircraft or just the nose section?
If I remember the story correctly, a regretful decision was made decades ago, to cut the nose section off and scrap the rest of the plane. I believe this happened when the NASM collection was temporarily housed in an old aircraft plant near Chicago. When the Korean War broke out, the plant was needed for refurbishing B-29's and the the aircraft collection had to find a home...quick. This was when Paul Garber secured the land in Maryland that became Silver Hill (later named the Paul Garber Restoration and Storage Facility).
I think the crew at the storage facility in Chicago took it upon themselves to cut the nose off of the Betty and ship it to Maryland. They junked the rest.
Please correct me if I've gotten any of this wrong.
I've heard the same thing. Additionally, "what would/could fit on a rail car was shipped to Silver Hill, what couldn't fit on a rail car was scrapped".
Last edited by mike furline on Thu Mar 17, 2016 10:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Harada Restoration Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" - July 2013
Thu Mar 17, 2016 8:25 am
The tail cone also made it to NASM; I do not think this includes the stabilizers.
Re: Harada Restoration Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" - July 2013
Thu Mar 17, 2016 6:34 pm
From the NASM website:
"The NASM G4M Model 34 BETTY is not complete but it is the best-preserved example of this famous aircraft in the world. Two major portions survive: the nose including the entire flight deck, and ten feet of the fuselage. The aircraft was probably based at Oppama Air Field near Yokosuka, Japan, but no record of the unit or service history is known. It was brought to the United States aboard a U. S. Navy aircraft carrier along with 145 other Japanese aircraft selected for test and evaluation. This BETTY was flight-tested as Foreign Equipment Test number T2-2205. Later, the airplane was dismembered with a cutting torch but when and precisely why are not known. Evidently, only the pieces that survive today arrived at the storage facility at Park Ridge, Illinois, during the late 1940s."
I was always under the impression that it was cut up for transport to Silver Hill with the majority of the aircraft being scrapped at that time. I thought there was a picture someplace of it complete in the Park Ridge factory...
"The NASM G4M Model 34 BETTY is not complete but it is the best-preserved example of this famous aircraft in the world. Two major portions survive: the nose including the entire flight deck, and ten feet of the fuselage. The aircraft was probably based at Oppama Air Field near Yokosuka, Japan, but no record of the unit or service history is known. It was brought to the United States aboard a U. S. Navy aircraft carrier along with 145 other Japanese aircraft selected for test and evaluation. This BETTY was flight-tested as Foreign Equipment Test number T2-2205. Later, the airplane was dismembered with a cutting torch but when and precisely why are not known. Evidently, only the pieces that survive today arrived at the storage facility at Park Ridge, Illinois, during the late 1940s."
I was always under the impression that it was cut up for transport to Silver Hill with the majority of the aircraft being scrapped at that time. I thought there was a picture someplace of it complete in the Park Ridge factory...
Re: Harada Restoration Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" - July 2013
Thu Mar 17, 2016 9:07 pm
Re: Harada Restoration Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" - July 2013
Fri May 27, 2016 10:32 am
But the nose section in the NASM collection appears to have the original paint, and the photographed complete aircraft has the paint removed. Could the NASM specimen be from a different aircraft?
Re: Harada Restoration Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" - July 2013
Thu Oct 27, 2016 10:37 am
Wondering if their are any updates. Wasn't the annual open house a month or two ago?
Re: Harada Restoration Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" - July 2013
Sun Oct 30, 2016 9:12 pm
TriangleP wrote:...political sensitivity by Mr. Harada regarding Japans history in WWII from neighbors like Korea and China...
The Japanese seem to be far more sensitive than our German friends on the issue...despite Germany being seen by most of the world as the greater villain.
Re: Harada Restoration Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" - July 2013
Mon Oct 31, 2016 4:26 pm
JohnB wrote:TriangleP wrote:...political sensitivity by Mr. Harada regarding Japans history in WWII from neighbors like Korea and China...
The Japanese seem to be far more sensitive than our German friends on the issue...despite Germany being seen by most of the world as the greater villain.
I think this is largely relative to where you are in the world. Spend some time in Singapore, Malaysia or China and see who they think is regarded as the greater villain.