What's a Japanese B5N "Kate" doing in Nebraska?!! ...

[Chris Brame]

Nope - BT-13 and PT-26.

[Tulio]

Thank you.


Tulio

[JOMiller]

In the photo of the Hellcat with the kill marks and mission tallys there is a
young pilot, an older lady, and a man in civilian attire. On the right side of
the pilot is a VF-29 patch. Is that Ray Hawkins?

[junkman9096]

In the photo of the Hellcat with the kill marks and mission tallys there is a
young pilot, an older lady, and a man in civilian attire. On the right side of
the pilot is a VF-29 patch. Is that Ray Hawkins?

I knew I had some photos of the Victory Squadron F6F's and based on those I'm pretty sure the pilot was Willard Eder. His obit pretty well explains the scoreboard and he was assigned/commanded VGF/VF 29 among others.
http://www.coronadonewsca.com/obituarie ... 50a3d.html

Here's a few more photos-in all likelihood I copied them off of this site.

[old iron]

Randy Wilson wrote:

According to "War Prizes" by Phil Butler, aircraft TAIC 6 was a Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" Type 97 Carrier Attack Bomber Model 12, C/n 2194.

To my knowledge, this is the only "Kate" to have made it to the US. This was extensively flown in the US starting in late 1944 and may have been "worn out" early on. I understand through Bob Mikesh that NASM sought a Kate for its collection and thought they had accessed one, but when the crate was opened years later found this to be a "Grace" (much less significant). Sounds like the Kate was long gone before planes were collected for museum use.