Author Topic: 343rd Naval Air Group A6M5  (Read 1973 times)

Offline Vraciu

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Re: 343rd Naval Air Group A6M5
« Reply #15 on: February 20, 2014, 11:46:51 PM »
I wondered about that but that end of the aileron is so damaged you can't really tell whether they painted it white or not. It could be the fabric is stripped off, burnt or folded over there. I reckoned painted white was more likely than not and went with that.

Are any other planes in that Kokutai photographed anywhere?   Might be a clue there...

I wonder if aileron balance would be thrown off with paint...

And yes, great job.

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Offline Greebo

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Re: 343rd Naval Air Group A6M5
« Reply #16 on: February 21, 2014, 03:59:14 AM »
Thats a great skin.  I see one of the panels on the top front of the right wing near the tip looks like its lighter or an unpainted patch.

Good spot, probably a bullet hole patch. I can add that to the skin.

I've not seen any other photos of 343's A6M5s with white wing tips and their later N1K-2s did not have them either. IIRC some Kamikaze units' aircraft used the white wingtip marking as well but I haven't got any photos to confirm that.


Offline lyric1

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Re: 343rd Naval Air Group A6M5
« Reply #17 on: February 21, 2014, 12:49:47 PM »
Good spot, probably a bullet hole patch. I can add that to the skin.

I've not seen any other photos of 343's A6M5s with white wing tips and their later N1K-2s did not have them either. IIRC some Kamikaze units' aircraft used the white wingtip marking as well but I haven't got any photos to confirm that.



Read just recently those Jinrai white tip zero's were not actual Kamikaze's. They were escort's for the Bettys carrying the Ohka's.