FIXED things I saw on Peleliu, Babeldoab and Ngesebus Palau

Richard W. · **Posted:** Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:38 am

Thank you for posting your photos.

The tank is a Japanese Type 95. The field piece is a 70mm Japanese Type 92 Battalion Gun.

lmritger · **Posted:** Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:47 am

13: Looks like the forward lip of a P-38J/L radiator bath there on the left

19: That HAS to be a TBF/TBM main gear strut.

Agreeing with others, this looks like a parts dump rather than a wreck site... I'm not seeing a lot of evidence of high-speed impacts here, and the Corsair parts look like they could be made flightworthy in a matter of weeks (ok, maybe months for the bigger stuff).

Thanks for posting these!

Lynn

Django · **Posted:** Mon Mar 19, 2012 12:26 pm

Wow, and that stuff is still just lying around. Amazing.

Wildchild · **Posted:** Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:05 pm

You know, that looks more like a post - WW2 Scrapyard rather than airplane wrecks... :shock:

michaelharadon · **Posted:** Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:16 pm

So...what will it take to get the parts here?

DaveM2 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 19, 2012 8:55 pm

michaelharadon wrote:

So...what will it take to get the parts here?

A working relationship with Jungle Bob :wink:

JDK · **Posted:** Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:31 pm

Well the US stuff is interesting, but not that hard to ID by those who know, however:

armyjunk2 wrote:

some remains I saw on Peleliu, Babeldoab and Ngesebus Palau Feel more than welcome to correct hat I think I saw.....
this is supposed to be the remains of a Japanese seaplane, its located on Babeldaob, Palau
1.

2.

That looks like an older style V-12 engine to me, and there's no Japanese marine aircraft (floatplanes or flying boats) that used such an engine, according to the books to hand on those types. There is the 'Hiro Type 91' engine used in a couple, but that's a 3 x 4 cylinder bank engine, very different (and interesting). Otherwise they seem to be radial equipped.

So what IS it? Assuming the tailplane is associated, then it's got a stressed skin horizontal stabiliser, and a V-12 - pretty powerful relatively high performance. Any guesses?

Cheers

JDK · **Posted:** Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:35 pm

(I should say there's on exception with a V-12 - the Aichi M6A1 Serian with an inverted V-12, but it's not going to be that, for obvious reasons.)

m50a1ontos · **Posted:** Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:57 pm

Didn't the Tony have a V-12? Not a seaplane....but maybe somebody thought it was and therefore, it became one.

JDK · **Posted:** Tue Mar 20, 2012 12:11 am

Certainly! The Ki 61 'Tony' did indeed have a V-12, but inverted again. Not that that's the critical point. I don't think this engine is necessarily the right way up, as displayed, but the proportions look wider and shorter than a W.W.II era fighter type V-12 (inverted or upright) to me. (But I could well be wrong - the stubs look like 1940s style ejector types rather than the 1930s straight out kind.) If we open the possibilities out to non marine types, it's a much wider net, of course, but I agree, I think the marine id is probably wrong.

Steve Nelson · **Posted:** Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:17 am

I can only think of a couple of Japanese WWII types that used inline engines. My WAG is that this is a Ha 60 from a D4Y "Judy" dive bomber, displayed upside down. Here's a pic of a Ha 60, displayed in a similar fashion (with radiator attached.)

And here's some info from the Smithsonian: http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19710927000

Assuming that's a tailplane, it could be from a Judy as well, although it's too incomplete (for me) to be sure. If it is a tailplane, it's much too large for a fighter. Anybody involved in the PoF Judy restoration have any insight?

SN

wendovertom · **Posted:** Tue Mar 20, 2012 3:15 pm

Wow - that had to be a cool trip armyjunk!! Don't let the Chinese find out about it - they pretty well cleaned out Tinian and Saipan in the early 90s with high dollar scrapper payments. The only things left are well guarded.

Tom P.

JDK · **Posted:** Tue Mar 20, 2012 5:49 pm

I think Steve may have well put his finger on it. The distinctive large tube arrangement (that looks like it runs off one cylinder head and parallels the other - most unusual) matches. There's only the Judy that had that radiator arrangement (if the tube relates) and used the engine.

wendovertom wrote:

Wow - that had to be a cool trip armyjunk!!

Agreed! I meant to say earlier, thanks for sharing the pics.

Regards,

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FIXED things I saw on Peleliu, Babeldoab and Ngesebus Palau

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