Mystery Challenge: Help Identify this Aircraft / Instrument Panel

Ok, folks, it appears to be a single engine, in a slight left bank doing just over 80 knots. What is it?

Derelict on Tinian

"RBC beside old Jap plane on Tinian - 1944"

In the waning days of World War II, as the Allies overran enemy bases, it wasn't at all unusual for GIs to pose next to destroyed aircraft (or other hardware, for that matter) for photos that were sent home. This resulted in a lasting photographic record of the battle damage. Today's photo is an unusually small print - not sure if this was a means of saving money, or a war-rationing method. On the reverse was hand-written, "RBC beside old Jap plane on Tinian - 1944".

Identifying the plane, however, has been a bit of a challenge. My first thought was that it had the general lines of a Nakajima  B6N Jill torpedo bomber. Only one Jill has survived, and is awaiting restoration at NASM, which can be seen here, on the website "Preserved Axis Aircraft". However, on closer examination, the cockpit canopies seem to better match the Nakajima C6N Saiun, or Painted Cloud (Allied codename "Myrt"). One of these has also been preserved at NASM, and can be seen here. The problem with the latter is that the Myrt didn't enter service until September 1944, and Tinian was overrun by the US Marines in July 1944. Thus, the only way that this could be a C6N was if this was one of the 19 pre-production prototypes.

This is one small snapshot!

Reader input on the identification of this plane is invited!

Osborn-esque Cartoons from the Tarawa

In our third and last installment of Navy materials from the estate of Helldiver pilot Herman Olds, this week we feature a series of training cartoons. As we said last week, during World War II, renown satirical cartoonist and illustrator Robert C. Osborn drew thousands of cartoon for the U.S. Navy's training command, dealing with both technical issues, as well a personnel ones, as embodied in his cast of infamous characters led by the bumbling pilot "Dilbert". Osborn's style became a Navy institution, one that was copied on a local level by other Navy artists.

The Olds collection includes a group of 8x10 glossy photo prints of training illustrations done in the Osborn style by a Navy artist that signed his work only with the initials "R.E.H". All of these are back stamped from the USS Tarawa and dated November 3, 1946.

Globemaster Twos

These two shots picture Douglas C-124 Globemaster IIs at an unnamed location (it has been suggested that this might be in Korea; if anyone recognizes the airfield, please comment!), along with a KC-97. No particular story this week, just a pair of snapshots that give a glimpse at the past. The C-124s were built between 1950 and 1955, and served into the 1970s. The style of print, however, leads me to believe that these photos were taken sometime in the later 1950s.

Helldiver Training, Cartoon Style

During World War II, renown satirical cartoonist and illustrator Robert C. Osborn drew thousands of cartoon for the U.S. Navy's training command, dealing with both technical issues, as well a personnel ones, as embodied in his cast of infamous characters led by the bumbling pilot "Dilbert". Osborn's style became a Navy institution, one that was copied on a local level by other Navy artists.

Last week, we featured several Douglas SB2C Helldiver photos from the estate of pilot Herman Olds. Included with the collection of actual photos came a large group of 8x10 glossy photo prints of training illustrations done in the Osborn style by a Navy artist that signed his work only with the initials "R.E.H". Some of these illustrations were specific to training issues with the Helldiver, and those are being featured in today's post. Next week's Tuesday post will feature this same artist's cartoons that address other issues faced by Navy pilots.

All of these prints are stamped on the back to indicate that they were printed on 3 Nov 1946 on board CV-40, the USS Tarawa. Olds' logbooks indicate that he completed his SB2C-5 carrier quals on the Tarawa on November 27, 1946 as a member of "Bombing Squadron Four", so this packet of prints were probably part of his training regimen there. During this time-period, Olds and the Tarawa were operating around Saipan and the Marianas, and flew training mission which included live bombing of targets on the island of Pagau.

The artist's initials of "REH" appear on the bottom of some prints.

Dynamite is my Co-pilot

The harsh necessities of bush flying often have led pilots to do things on a routine, daily basis that would have been unthinkable in the regular aviation world. Like flying around with boxes of dynamite on the seat next to you in a Bell 47D.

When there are no roads, and you've got some blasting to do in the far north of Canada, this is the guy to call!

Over 5,600 Bell 47s were built over the years, and they did just about every kind of helo work imaginable. Introduced in 1949, the D-model had the fully molded canopy, but didn't have the larger side-saddle fuel tanks of the more famous G-model.

Helldiver Oops

Occasionally, the Archive has the opportunity to acquire not just images, but materials that help tell the stories of the photographs they accompany. Such is the case with this week's offering of Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver photos, three of which show the result of a mechanical failure in the landing gear system. They come from the estate of Navy pilot Lt. (jg) Herman E. Olds

The SB2C Helldiver, which replaced the legendary Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber, failed in many ways, and was generally unpopular with pilots. When it was produced, it was plagued with problems which led to a scathing by the Truman Committee, and ultimately the problems started the slide into oblivion for Curtiss. These included handling qualities issues, electrical problems, a terribly complicated and hard-to-maintain hydraulic system (which could very well have led to this gear-up incident), and problems with the aircraft's weight and range (more specifically, lack thereof). Some of these problems were solved in later models of the Helldiver; the one pictured here was the more mature -5 version.

One of the unique things about this set of photos is that we also have the pilot's logbooks, which include the entry for the incident, which occurred on July 1, 1946 at NAS Cecil Field, Jacksonville, Florida. (The back of the photos are dated July 2, so either they were taken the day following the incident, or printed the following day, or the lab simply got the date wrong.) NAS Cecil Field was a principle dive bombing training base during and immediately after WWII.

Starting in March, 1947, Lt. Olds flew with attack squadron VA-1A

Not sure the point of this particular formation...please comment if you know.

This 8x10 is presumably a training photo. Though stamped on the back, there is
no explanatory text.