Post by turboNZ on Dec 7, 2011 10:17:21 GMT 12
www.stuff.co.nz/national/6097601/Otaki-mans-World-War-II-tale-of-no-ordinary-tourist
Barney Richards will never forget a 1989 meeting with the pilot who flew the only known aerial reconnaissance mission over Wellington by a Japanese aircraft in World War II.
Nobuo Fujita, who was in a submarine when Pearl Harbour was bombed 70 years ago today, flew his Yokosuka E14Y seaplane codenamed "Glen" over Wellington on Sunday, March 8, 1942.
The Imperial Navy pilot's aircraft was catapulted into the air off a submarine in Cook Strait.
Fujita had earlier made similar surprise reconnaissance flights over Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart. He would later earn special status in Japan for being the only enemy pilot to drop bombs on the continental United States in World War II.
His flight over the capital struck fear in the hearts of Wellingtonians.
Richards, of Otaki, president of the Peace Council of Aotearoa, met Fujita by chance at a peace conference in Asahikiwa in 1989.
"He said to me he had been to New Zealand. I said, 'Good on you, when were you there?' He said through an interpreter he'd visited Wellington in 1942.
"I said to myself: 'This is no ordinary tourist'. That was confirmed for me when he told me he had flown a plane over the city in March 1942. That is when the penny dropped.
"I asked the interpreter: 'Is this the guy who took off from a submarine?' I told the interpreter he gave us a hell of a fright.
"I was dumbfounded. He told me he had flown over the wharves and round the Wellington coastline. He was looking for American ships for Japanese submarines to sink."
Richards, now 73, was just four and living in Newtown at the time of Fujita's flight. "I remember my father telling me about the flight of the Japanese aircraft over Wellington and how everyone was scared.
"People had visions of themselves pulling rickshaws up Melrose Hill."
Richards said Fujita, who died in 1997 aged 85, shook his hand and apologised for the terror he had brought to Wellingtonians.
"When I met him he was a man who had seen the error of war. But I understood he was acting under orders . . . I'll never forget him."
Very interesting
Now my question is,..with this “Glen” flying over Wellington with impunity what aircraft would we have had back in 1942 back in Wellington (Rongotai I assume) that could have shot it down?
I assume all the P-40’s would have been overseas.
So, would have it been down to a Vildebeest and an observer with his Lewis gun,…assuming the big V could have even caught it……
Barney Richards will never forget a 1989 meeting with the pilot who flew the only known aerial reconnaissance mission over Wellington by a Japanese aircraft in World War II.
Nobuo Fujita, who was in a submarine when Pearl Harbour was bombed 70 years ago today, flew his Yokosuka E14Y seaplane codenamed "Glen" over Wellington on Sunday, March 8, 1942.
The Imperial Navy pilot's aircraft was catapulted into the air off a submarine in Cook Strait.
Fujita had earlier made similar surprise reconnaissance flights over Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart. He would later earn special status in Japan for being the only enemy pilot to drop bombs on the continental United States in World War II.
His flight over the capital struck fear in the hearts of Wellingtonians.
Richards, of Otaki, president of the Peace Council of Aotearoa, met Fujita by chance at a peace conference in Asahikiwa in 1989.
"He said to me he had been to New Zealand. I said, 'Good on you, when were you there?' He said through an interpreter he'd visited Wellington in 1942.
"I said to myself: 'This is no ordinary tourist'. That was confirmed for me when he told me he had flown a plane over the city in March 1942. That is when the penny dropped.
"I asked the interpreter: 'Is this the guy who took off from a submarine?' I told the interpreter he gave us a hell of a fright.
"I was dumbfounded. He told me he had flown over the wharves and round the Wellington coastline. He was looking for American ships for Japanese submarines to sink."
Richards, now 73, was just four and living in Newtown at the time of Fujita's flight. "I remember my father telling me about the flight of the Japanese aircraft over Wellington and how everyone was scared.
"People had visions of themselves pulling rickshaws up Melrose Hill."
Richards said Fujita, who died in 1997 aged 85, shook his hand and apologised for the terror he had brought to Wellingtonians.
"When I met him he was a man who had seen the error of war. But I understood he was acting under orders . . . I'll never forget him."
Very interesting
Now my question is,..with this “Glen” flying over Wellington with impunity what aircraft would we have had back in 1942 back in Wellington (Rongotai I assume) that could have shot it down?
I assume all the P-40’s would have been overseas.
So, would have it been down to a Vildebeest and an observer with his Lewis gun,…assuming the big V could have even caught it……
