Attacking RNZAF Kittyhawk filmed by Japanese at Rabaul?

[rodm]

The Japanese NHK Archive hosts digitized versions of Japanese WWII propaganda newsreels.

One such newsreel - No. 194, issued Feb 1944 - contains a lengthy segment on the Japanese air defence of Rabaul, including footage from the ground of attacking Allied aircraft.

At the 6 min 48 sec mark into the newsreel, there is a brief but surprisingly clear view of a low-level flyby by - IMHO - a white-tailed RNZAF P-40 Kittyhawk...

The newsreel can be viewed here:


www2.nhk.or.jp/archives/shogenarchives/jpnews/movie.cgi?das_id=D0001300322_00000&seg_number=001


I guess my question is... is it likely a Kiwi Kittyhawk or are my eyes playing tricks? I think the sun is reflecting strongly off the white-painted upper surfaces of the fighter - namely the white horizontal stabilisers and the white bars surrounding the roundels on the wings. These clearly contrast against what I assume is an olive drab green camouflage scheme.
Cheers

Rod

[Mustang51]

Rodm....you are dead on there. It is an RNZAF P-40. I have never seen a film like that before. Fantastic view from the other side. I shall have to watch again and try to work out the tail codes to work out the Zero units. Love to see more of that

[rodm]

Hi Mustang51, I managed to download the full clip and get a clearer view.

The Japanese cameraman was panning during filming so there is a lot of motion blur in the sequence. However, in a frame-by-frame analysis, there were two sharp frames and these also showed the sun's reflection off the top of the two white fuselage stripes fore and aft of the cockpit.

Cheers

Rod

[Mustang51]

Its clear as a bell RNZAF...wonder if it is possible to find out the time period over which that film was produced

[Dave Homewood]

Wow, amazing to see this, and see an Allied attack from the enemy's perspective. Great find Rod.

[Dave Homewood]

The translation of the commentary in English:

It is called Jukai, who does not know Senkofuetsu, and is chanted as an unexplored heaven and earth. The battlefield here in New Guinea is literally a dense forest area.
The struggles of the Imperial Japanese Army heroes are piled up against nature, opening up new areas. Who can think of such a difficult battle? The enemy is based in Port Moresby and is trying to rely on its abundant material power. Prior to categorically destroying this enemy's counterattack, the Imperial Warrior must first win the battle against the jungle. Bamboo plexus with large root stock. A wide variety of vines. Whether you pay or pay, it hinders your progress. Mountain leeches attack. Aedes mosquitoes invade. Moreover, it is a sultry heat peculiar to the jungle. Water is the most distressing area in these areas. Cutting out the bamboo that hinders the advance, the water supply team builds an instant water tower and carries it to the front line comrades. It is precious water.
It is the medic's mission to deport the injured by traversing the pathless road. The more difficult it is to replenish, the more difficult the medic will have. The medics are also fighting fiercely with the terrible chemicals and materials.
The scale of the battle is large, and the appearance of the battle is serious and complicated. We must also pay attention to every front, like the constant watch of the sentinels standing here.

Rabaul, our base on New Britain. It doesn't shake like Iwao. The enemy landed on the islands of Kwajalein and Luot in the Marshall Islands on February 1. The enemy is also trying to do his best. Didn't they even seek a foothold on the two islands, which are nothing more than a coral atoll? With that landing, the enemy now believes that he has besieged Rabaul. The battlefield is serious. But you don't have to be upset at all. I am the eagle of the sea that crushes the enemy's ambitions in the air and shoots down one day, one day.

A violent alarm rang. A large formation of the War Bomb Coalition, including the Consolidated B-24. Immediately dispatch to your favorite plane or fighter plane. The sea eagle takes off with dust and goes beyond the sky.
The United States has hit my hospital ship several times and has no shame. Then move on to the evacuation movement. Taking advantage of the dense clouds from time to time, he escaped the attack of my fighter and invaded the enemy formation over Rabaul. Ground fire, spit fire all at once.
Consolidated B-24 blows fire and shoots down. In addition, one aircraft, B-24, heads straight toward the abyss. Unable to withstand the attack of my fighter, which devours violently, the North American B25 escapes to the ground.
The enemy makes the quantity say something and rushes. Even if it is a fluke, it sometimes causes damage to us.
Enemy fighter, P-40.
All the enemy planes ran away. What the people at the base are already waiting for is one aircraft, one aircraft, and the friendly eagle returning with the familiar roaring sound from the shadow of the mountain. A heart waiting for Arawashi. People still think today that it is a harsh, firm, bloody heart. The hero who came back does not say a word. However, the big bullet holes tell the story of the fierce battle. He often came back. Silent gratitude pervades every corner. Moreover, at that moment, preparations for the next dispatch

[Dave Homewood]

And a screenshot of the RNZAF P-40.

[Mustang51]

That is just bloody brilliant

[tbf2504]

Good to see on their scoreboard at the end of the film, no mention of P40s, so it must have been a good day for the Kiwi pilots!

[Dave Homewood]

There are no wing stripes, so it is almost certainly a P-40N-1, as they did not have the stripes (apart from one which may have had its wings swapped in the field).

This matches the time frame as the film was released in February 1944, and and that would have been the last month that that model of P-40 was up there, as they were withdrawn from their base at Torokina back to Guadalcanal and replaced by newer P-40N-5's with the glasshouse canopy.

[Mustang51]

Now....if all of that was in colour.....

[McFly]

Feb 10, 2022 9:59:24 GMT 12 Mustang51 said:

Now....if all of that was in colour.....

[baz62]

Wow an amazing piece of history right there. Reminds me of a photo in the recent book about 487 Squadron of one of the Squadron's Venturas at low level during a raid. Photo snapped by a German soldier. Makes you wonder what else might be out there.

[Mustang51]

Very nice.....

[planecrazy]

What a great clip, interesting how the Zero pilots have their seats cranked all the way up,
almost have their eye line above the canopy, also every one of them had the canopy open.

[Dave Homewood]

I think that was just for taxiing and taking off.

[rodm]

Feb 9, 2022 22:41:00 GMT 12 Mustang51 said:

Its clear as a bell RNZAF...wonder if it is possible to find out the time period over which that film was produced

I expect the footage is the product of several raids - high-level bombing and low-level shipping strikes by B-25s, for example. The footage could have been shot over several days or several months...

Another aspect of the timeframe is that the film reels had to get from Rabaul back to Japan, where they were presumably processed, edited, and then compiled into the newsreel.

In terms of establishing the timeframe, we know it was before 16 February 1944 My off-the-cuff knowledge of RNZAF P-40 markings is poor - does anyone have anything definitive about the period when the RNZAF used the white tails and white roundel bars (as opposed to white wing stripes)?


Another interesting snippet from the newsreel:

At the 5 min 37 sec mark, a formation of B-25s is seen from almost directly below. They fly through Flak bursts. Also seen are a couple of fighters, and a B-25 starts to emit smoke from the port engine. On the surface, this could be a combat between Japanese fighters and the B-25s, leading to the damaged engine. Then again, there is a close Flak burst just before the B-25 engine smokes and the two fighters seen could be a weaving close top escort (which, from memory, was done by the Kiwis). The same formation is seen departing at the 5 min 50 sec mark, with a single fighter visible.

Sadly, the resolution of the digitized clip is low, so it's hard to recognize the silhouettes of most of the single-engined aircraft seen from a distance.

In terms of colour ...

I originally saw an artificially colorized version of this newsreel on Youtube:



It was in this clip that I first noticed the white tail and then sought out the original digitized clip just to be sure it was real...

[Mustang51]

Can anyone get a screen clip of the Zeros seen in closeup at about 0.49 - 0-59 so that we can see a sharp view of the tail markings? One looked like 9-169 and very much later 9-114

[davidd]

I could not help but notice the number of Zekes with their lower undercarriage door fairings removed, possibly due to damage and shortage of replacement parts. Probably would not make that much difference to general performance. Also prominent was fact that most (but not all) filmed Zekes are clearly equipped with the ejector exhaust system, almost certainly signifying the model 52, the latest version of the Zeke. The arrival of a later, and more dangerous variant of the Zeke was also noticed by the Allies when it was first showed up in the theatre in about November 1943 (I think they were sent down from Truk, as a temporary measure, leaving the carriers without their own air cover). A few earlier models can also be seen (Model 21s) with the continuous troughs for the fuselage mounted machine guns. Definitely an interesting bit of film. I was also thinking about that lone, presumed RNZAF P-40 zooming along all by itself and compared this with the advice given to all Allied pilots in the theatre at the time which emphasised the golden rule to NEVER fly alone over enemy territory. This of course was not as easy as it sounds, as after violent action, pilots often found themselves alone with not another aircraft visible in the sky. This mantra about constantly flying with a buddy (wing man) was standard doctrine throughout most air forces at the time (probably still is!), but this was hammered in again and again, to the extent that if you could not find another Kittyhawk, then ANY Allied fighter was better than nothing. And you were expected to not just fly with them, you had to SCISSOR, and SCISSOR and SCISSOR! (Defensive tactic to cover you and/or your wingman's tail.)

[Dave Homewood]

Feb 11, 2022 2:09:22 GMT 12 rodm said:

I expect the footage is the product of several raids - high-level bombing and low-level shipping strikes by B-25s, for example. The footage could have been shot over several days or several months...

Another aspect of the timeframe is that the film reels had to get from Rabaul back to Japan, where they were presumably processed, edited, and then compiled into the newsreel.

Yes, very sound thinking there.

Feb 11, 2022 2:09:22 GMT 12 rodm said:

In terms of establishing the timeframe, we know it was before 16 February 1944 My off-the-cuff knowledge of RNZAF P-40 markings is poor - does anyone have anything definitive about the period when the RNZAF used the white tails and white roundel bars (as opposed to white wing stripes)?

The P-40M's, P-40N-5's, P-40N-20's and P-40N-25's all had the white diagonal wing stripes plus the white roundel bars in the forward area. It seems that only the P-40N-1's had no white diagonal stripes. I do not know why they did not get them, but they didn't. So this is undoubtedly a P-40N-1.

From my research the first P-40N-1's arrived at Guadalcanal from August 1943. But it was not till 30 October 1943 that P-40's moved into Ondonga, New Georgia, from where they could make the trip to Rabaul. So it would surely have to be between November 43 and February 44.