Juan R-S Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 Hello all, What was Saburo Sakai's Zero aircraft markings during his time in the Pacific? I believe he was flying A6M2 version. Did he have his personal plane or was it shared? TIA, Juan R-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Dapple Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 Hi Juan, This article lists the serials of four of the Zeroes that Saburo Sakei flew; I have no idea how accurate it is (certainly not with regard to the colours described) but I do believe it was not customary for IJN pilots to be allocated their 'own' aircraft. Hope this helps, or at least gives you a starting point Cheers, Stew 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toryu Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 The article that Stew @Stew Dapple attached is very relevant. The late Jim Lansdale was a renowned Japanese aviation researcher. His colour notations seem largely accurate, too. They concur with Nick Millman's research at aviationofjapan.com. The Japanese fighting element in the first half of the Pacific war was the Vic-formation (one leader, two wingmen). The leader was usually identified by a coloured bar or stripe (the horizontal bar on the tailplane in this case). Therefore formation leaders in both Japanese air services used their same assigned aircraft whenever it was available. Cheers, Michael 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 6 hours ago, Toryu said: Vic-formation (one leader, two wingmen). More accurately a Shotai. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toryu Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 @alt-92 Yes, but the term Shotai was also used for the later four (and even eight) ship formations. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 -- Thing is, calling it a Vic suggests the rather rigid RAF formation practice while the Japanese used a more fluid approach in their operational flights. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 (edited) Tomaytoes, tomahtoes! It's a three-ship! Hai! Mike Seriously, I'm pretty sure colors and markings of Sakai's A6M's were discussed on the J-Aircraft website. It's been a while since I scrolled though the colors/markings discussions, but you could go there and look for them. The late Jim Lansdale was a regular contributor, and if you don't already have the website bookmarked, I have posted the link below. It is an outstanding reference site for IJA/IJN aircraft modeling! https://j-aircraft.com/ Edited July 17, 2021 by 72modeler added link 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GiampieroSilvestri Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 Saburo Sakai's A6M2 model 21 V-103 of tainan kokutai had a blue diagonal stripe behind the Hinomaru and a blue horizontal stripe above the serial number on the fin and victory markings. Saluti Giampiero 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toryu Posted July 18, 2021 Share Posted July 18, 2021 Wow - now that we seem to get entangled in the maze of marking details let me add to the confusion by referring two recent publications on the subject. Nick Millman (A6M Zero Aces, Osprey, 2019) describes two of Sakai's potential Zeros: (1) V-103 (white) with a blue diagonal stripe and a red tail bar that he used in the Dutch East Indies in early 1942, and (2) V-128 (black) with a blue diagonal stripe and a white tail bar at Rabaul in August 1942. The other (Rabaul) V-103 (Black) with a red diagonal stripe and white tail bar was - according to Nick - erroneously attributed to Sakai because of the same tail number. Ruffato / Claringbould (Eagles of the Southern Sky, 2012), to which Nick contributed colours and markings, list the Chutai and Shotai colour affiliations. According to this source the three Shotai within a Chutai were identified by one coloured tail bar (white - yellow - red, but no blue). Two (!) blue tail bars were reserved for the Chutai-cho. This is in obvious contradiction to Nick's colour profile 22 in the afore-mentioned book. It appears that Sakai was a member of the 2nd Chutai (blue diagonal stripe) and usually flew the 1st Shotai-cho position in Rabaul, but depending on the daily mission roster he also occupied other positions. In this case it was customary to change the plane to the one with the appropriate markings. As there is only very little photo evidence that refers to specific pilots much of this excellent research remains conjectural. For anybody interested in the Tainan Kokutai and Saburo Sakai I warmly recommend those two books (and of course Sakai's own book 'Samurai!' with Martin Caiden and Fred Saito, 1957). Cheers, Michael 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blimpyboy Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 (edited) This earlier thread has some information regarding the markings on one of Sakai's A6M2s (V-173), including some discussion about the example currently hanging in the Australian War Memorial: www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234956984-saburo-sakai-a6m2/ Otherwise, some more images and details of the AWM's A6M2 can be found here: www.awm.gov.au/collection/C111051 and pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/a6m2/5784/2002/zero.html and adf-serials.com.au/zero.htm Edited July 19, 2021 by Blimpyboy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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