Nasu War Museum - Gallery

[Vagabond]

Hello All,

I recently made a trek North from Tokyo to Nasu, Japan to visit a private military museum. Fascinating place!

Part of the gentleman's collection are the aircraft and aircraft bits below as well as other stuff you'll see in the full gallery. All of the placards are, of course, in Japanese and I thought some of the ID's were a tad questionable.

Take a look and share your opinions on the museum content and accuracy.

I'll need the WIX collective to ID this stuff...

Thanks!

PS - I've included a (gasp) Tank photo as well as I've never seen this type and can't find anything online about what the heck it is. I posted to my AFV friends and asked but the more, the merrier.

Gallery Link:

https://www.vgbimages.com/AFV-Photos/Na ... apan-92419





This looks to me like a biplane fuselage with clearly fake monoplane wing. Ideas?





Engines:









?





Tank:



Historical Photographic Evidence suggests the tank was used as infantry support and transport for the infamous "Bimbo Brigades" of the late war Japanese Army - thoughts?

[JohnB]

I wonder if the tank is a film prop?
With all the flat steel it looks homemade...A new body on a small tractor.

The airplane looks the same, look at the wing, a wooden plank.

[phil65]

The girls look friendly...

Phil

[Chris Brame]

The Japanese Earl Reinert, minus the good planes...

[bipe215]

Top 2 shots are a T-34. They built some under license but that looks like a Beechcraft version

The orange one is a Stearman fuselage and lower wings. The wings have been butchered but the fittings for the N struts and wires are still there.

[JohnB]

The T-34 use and production in Japan is well known.
They were made by Fuji, the post-war name for Nakajima, better known today as Subaru.

What a Stearman is doing in Japan I don't know. I've never heard of any being shipped to the JSDAF...by the time they were reformed, the Stearman was obsolete, and that's why they got and built T-34s.
Perhaps an ex--China example?

At any rate, it looks like a Stearman covered with Paper mache...aside from the odd wing, note the fuselage has lost the shape of fuselage stingers, likewise the hugely thick gear legs.

[bdk]

What a Stearman is doing in Japan I don't know. I've never heard of any being shipped to the JSDAF...by the time they were reformed, the Stearman was obsolete, and that's why they got and built T-34s.
Perhaps an ex--China example?

At any rate, it looks like a Stearman covered with Paper mache...aside from the odd wing, note the fuselage has lost the shape of fuselage stingers, likewise the hugely thick gear legs.

Looks like a BT-13 engine and cowl as well. Perhaps an old cropduster.

And the "B29" prop isn't. Maybe a fixed pitch test club for something?

[Vagabond]

Thanks for the assessments and info, everyone!

Very weird place. Had a feeling that many items were not genuine or mislabeled - good to have verification.

The tank is apparently a movie prop.

Cheers,
VB

[JohnB]

If the Stearman was an old duster it wouldn't have a front cockpit...and judging by the rest of the exhibits, I don't think they would have bothered to go back to the two-year configuration.

BTW: I've never seen a fixed wing duster in Japan, I'm not saying they never had any, just that I've never seen one, just photos of helicopters.
It's possible their fields are too small for fixed wing sprayers.
Also, a few years ago I was reading they were trying essentially scaled up RC helicopter models for spraying...don't know if it was done in a large scale.

[Stephan Wilkinson]

better known today as Subaru.

Maybe to you, but Subaru is simply a division of Fuji Heavy Industries.

[JFS61]

Tank:



Historical Photographic Evidence suggests the tank was used as infantry support and transport for the infamous "Bimbo Brigades" of the late war Japanese Army - thoughts?

Tank has to be fake. We all know that the Japanese were pretty far behind the curve when it came to tank design, but this far?

The main layout is off, as I don't see how there is anyway one could shoehorn both the driver and the righthand gunner in the chassis as it appears to be laid out. Worse, the protrusion of the housing for said righthand machine gun completes obscures half (if not more) of the driver's forward view. The design of the gunner and driver's compartment, with sloping front deck, along with the flat steel surfaces and weird overhangs, just screams "shot trap." There has been some extremely poor tank designs over the years (see David Fletcher's Tank Chats), but this one just seems to be just a bit too much (even in Japanese terms). Like another poster said, probably some move studio's concept of what a tank should look like.

But then again, I've been wrong before, so who knows?

[sandiego89]

I would not be so quick to write off the tank, or parts of it, as not being genuine. It has elements of the Type 92 Tank, or Tankette (technically a heavy armored car). These were indeed tiny and had flat plates and riveted armor. I saw a similar tankette on Saipan. A wide variety of wheels and sub-types of the Type 92.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_92_H ... moured_Car

The "B-29" propeller is the wrong type of hub and the blades are too short and the wrong shape to be from a B-29, but the hub and shape do look very much P-51 to me.

Last edited by sandiego89 on Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[JohnB]

better known today as Subaru.

Maybe to you, but Subaru is simply a division of Fuji Heavy Industries.

Stephen,
My response was based on some research, in 2017 Fuji was renamed Subaru.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_Corporation

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakajim ... ft_Company

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a1534 ... baru-corp/,

It's traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as number 72700: Subaru Corporation.

I'd wager few Subaru owners, including warbird buffs, know if the Nakajima connection to their car.

[old iron]

sandiego89 wrote:

I would not be so quick to write of the tank, or parts of it, as not being genuine. It has elements of the Type 92 Tank, or Tankette (technically a heavily armored car). These were indeed tiny and had flat plates and riveted armor. A wide variety of wheels and sub-types of the Type 92.

Good eye! The link provided did not work for me, but Wikipedia and other pages show that some of the Type 92 base designs are a close match to the specimen in the museum. The top has some similarities but never close enough and is likely heavily rebuilt.

[Thomas_Mac]

I'd wager few Subaru owners, including warbird buffs, know if the Nakajima connection to their car.

I joked about adding a rising sun to my WRX but thought better of it