Warbird Information Exchange

Hi All,

This past week, I spent my day off traveling around to local airplane/WWII sights in the Tokyo area. My first stop was the Former Hitachi Aircraft Power Station - a relic from WWII that was still in service until 1993. The building was part of the nearby aircraft engine factory and was attacked on three different occasions during the war. According to the plaque, on February 17th, 1945, the factory was attacked by F6F Hellcats, April 19th by P-51 Mustangs, and finally by B-29s on April 24th. The local area has preserved the building as, quoted here from the city - “Higashiyamato City designated this substation as a cultural asset on October 1, 1995.”

Gallery Link:
https://www.vgbimages.com/AirMuseums/Fo ... n/n-9tQ8ck

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks from me, too, Paul! Note how most of the damage seems to be on the front of the building.

In the map at the bottom of your last photo, I spy "Yamato Air Station Monument" - did you get any photos of that?

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Wow, that is some history there! Thanks for sharing.

I just checked out some of the 7th FC P-51 squadron histories to see about that mission as listed on the plaque.....what's odd is the 15th FG and 21st FG P-51 squadrons were all on a fighter strike mission on Atsugi Airfield that day. Quick look I can't find anything on this Power station. Is it close to Atsugi airfield?

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Hi Chris,

I didn't go to the Yamato AS monument as I didn't see it on the map until you pointed it out! LOL!
I just traveled there via Google maps and it appears to be a plaque in a smallish town square type area.

Yeah, I noticed that most of the damage was to the front of the building and am planning on studying the photo of the plaque with the factory layout on it to visualize what happened.

Waltz41 - I just checked GM for Atsugi airfield and a modern Japanese Naval Air Facility Atsugi comes up about 30km SOUTH of the power station/factory. Take a look yourself. The GM entry for the station is:
Old Power Station/WWII Relic, 2 Chome Sakuragaoka, Higashiyamato, Tokyo 207-0022.

The power station was part of an aircraft engine factory.

I figured the WIXmind would have precise info on the likely squadrons involved!

Let me know what y'all figure out!



I'll ask one of the translators at the gig to take a look at this photo and see what I can find out about the factory layout.

Thanks again Vagabond for sharing your trip with us. Which way does the front of the substation face? Just curious...

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

As a photographer it appears that the photo was taken somewhere between mid-morning to late afternoon with fairly short shadows, which would likely mean that that face of the building is facing south-ish. And, after I typed that, Googling it that would appear correct...

https://www.google.com/maps/search/Hita ... a=!3m1!1e3

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The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

Correct - it faces South. Very good analysis, Ryan!

Thanks for the GM link!

Here's a screenshot of the GM view in a similar orientation as the factory map from the plaque:





Cool!

It looks to me, in my very much a layman opinion, that attacking from the South gives a majority of building surface areas to hit versus striking from the East or West. Also in the factory map there was a large building South of the power station which would explain why most of the damage is to the upper section of the power station. Interesting...

Cool Ryan! Thanks! Maybe the power station and engine facility were targets of opportunity on the way out from Atsugi that day? Shoot a bunch of stuff up, but don't linger long enough for the flak to get 'em fixed?

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

Reminds me when I visited Warsaw in 1978. Lots of buildings still had scars. I have to credit the town for keeping it. Most want to forget.

_________________
Better is the enemy of Good.

One of the translators at work took the time to label the map of the factory in English.

See below: