History[]
Built by Mitsubishi at their Nagoya No. 3 Works as G4M2 with c/n 2134[1]. Delivered to the Japanese Naval Air Force (JNAF) and assigned to the 702nd Hikōtai of the 763rd Kōkūtai. The tailcode 763-12 was painted in white on both sides of the tail. It was painted with green upper surfaces and gray lower surfaces and equipped with yagi antennas for aerial radar in both nose and fuselage.
The 702nd Hikōtai of the 763rd Kōkūtai operated from Clark Field on Luzon. During late January 1945, this Betty was captured there relatively intact by US soldiers and afterwards studied by TAIU-SWPA personell. During the reconstruction the green paint was stripped from the fuselage to a natural aluminum finish, the tail was a painted with a blue vertical stripe and red and white horizontal stripes on the rudder and Tech. Air Intel. S.W.P.A. got painted on the bare part. Both propeller spinners were painted red and US star and bar markings were painted on the fuselage and wings.[2] According to Harold Skaarup the aircraft ended up in the US, coded FE-2205[3]. Other sources claim the aircraft at NASM is a G4M3 Model 34.[4] Parts of FE-2205 are still to be seen at the NASM.
References[]
- ↑ http://thepastpresented.com/index.php/tag/mitsubishi-g4m-betty/
- ↑ https://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/g4m/clark.html
- ↑ http://silverhawkauthor.com/japanese-warplanes-of-the-second-world-war-preserved-3-nakajima-to-yokosuka-imperial-japanese-army-air-service-and-imperial-japanese-navy-air-service_491.html
- ↑ https://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/g4m/T2-2205.html