Before he made Godzilla and Ultraman....

Wed Nov 04, 2020 5:52 pm

Before he made Godzilla and Ultraman....

Yes there is a WW2 plane link :-)

This Movie Special Effects creator had his hand in a few Japanese WW2 propaganda movies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiji_Tsuburaya

I found this one to be well made with lot's of great original Japanese footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BXo-jWcGnw&feature=youtu.be

Sports a lot of hurricanes and buffalos.....well models. But still!

During the war years (the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II) he directed a number of propaganda films and produced their special effects for Toho's Educational Film Research Division created by decree of the imperial government. Those include Kōdō Nippon (The Imperial Way of Japan) (1938), Kaigun Bakugeki-tai (Naval Bomber Squadron) (1940), The Burning Sky (Moyuru ōzora) (1940), Hawai Mare oki kaisen (The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya) (1942), Decisive Battle in the Skies (Kessen-no Ōzora-e) (1943) and Kato hayabusa sento-tai (1944). According to legend, Tsuburaya's work on The War at Sea... was so impressive that General MacArthur's film unit is said to have sold footage of the film to Frank Capra for use in Movietone newsreels as footage of the attack on Pearl Harbor.[5]

Hoping you enjoy....2000 after 16 years.....boy time flies!!!!!

Wed Nov 04, 2020 9:49 pm

This is another one some different footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BXo-jWcGnw

Thu Nov 05, 2020 3:05 pm

I'm surprised we have seen some of that footage in films or documentaries.
I loved the bomber formation stuff...

Thu Nov 05, 2020 6:20 pm

Made me wonder about the real P-40 scenes.

Live combat footage or captured AC? There is sequences where there is smoke trail on the P-40's. Starts at 7M:50S.

Does not look like a scale model at all....but it does seem staged a bit.

Thu Nov 05, 2020 9:27 pm

Great footage!! Thanks for posting the links.

When I was in Tokyo last year, I made the pilgrimage out to Toho Studios. I got off the train at the Ultraman themed train stop. Fun!

Fri Nov 06, 2020 10:14 am

I believe the Buffalo and P-40 are both captured aircraft. At 4:27 is a key shot. The P-40 came from the Philippines in early 1942, and clearly shows the US ARMY titles painted out with a different paint, Hinomaru white borders seen on the outside of the Stars repainted under the wings as well.

Excellent footage, and amazing to see the beautiful Ki-43 in period and her element.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BXo-jWcGnw

Sat Nov 07, 2020 1:51 pm

If the Japanese could repair and fly a captured B-17E, they certainly could have repaired a P-40.

Also...what are the bombers...(I don't have my copy of Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War by Francillion handy).