World War 2 In Review

Nakajima Ki.27a “Nate.”

Nakajima Ki.27b Type 97 Model B "Nate" Akeno Fighter Training School.

Nakajima Ki.27b Type 97 Model B "Nate."

Nakajima Ki.27b “Nate.”

Nakajima Ki.27 “Nate,” 1st Chutai, 59th Sentai, Manchuria, 1939.

A captured Japanese Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon) fighter parked by a sandy landing strip, somewhere in Papua New Guinea during World War II. Allied code name “Oscar.”

Nakajima Kikka.

Pilot of a Japanese Ki-48 bomber preparing for a mission, date unknown.

Japanese Ki-77(A-26) carried on USS Bogue, 25 December 1945.

Captured Japanese A6M5 Zeros on board USS Copahee on their way to the US from Saipan, July 1944.

Anti-aircraft gunners, center foreground, pour a deadly stream of fire into an already-burning Japanese Kamikaze plane plummeting toward the flight deck of the USS Sangamon, a Navy escort carrier, during action in the Ryukyu Islands near Japan, on May 4, 1945. This suicide plane landed in the sea close to the carrier. Another Japanese aircraft later succeeded in hitting the ship deck, inflicting heavy damage.

Kawasaki Ki-48, date unknown.

Head-on view of a Ki-48 aircraft, date unknown.

Forward view of a Ki-48 aircraft, date unknown.

Ki-48 aircraft at an airfield, date unknown.

Ki-48 aircraft with bomb bay doors open, date unknown.

A group of Ki-48 aircraft in flight, date unknown.

Another view of the same group of Ki-48 aircraft in flight, date unknown.

Instrument panel of a Ki-48 aircraft, date unknown.

Kawasaki Ki-102b “Randy” cockpit.

A destroyed Kawanishi N1K1-J at Yontan Airfield, Okinawa, May 1945. Marines are using the shell hole in the foreground for bathing.

Nakajima Ki.27b Type 97 Model B, "Nate", 246th Fighter Sentai, activated October 1942 for home defense.

Nakajima Ki.27 Type 97 “Nate” fighter.

Nakajima Ki.27, 59th Sentai, Manchuria, 1939.

Nakajima Ki.27 “Nate.”

Nakajima Ki-27 Ko 84th Dokuritsu Hiko-Chutai Japanese Army Air Service, Canton, China, 1939.

Nakajima Ki-27 and Polikarpov I-15bis in combat during the Khalkin Gol/Nomonhan incident, 1939.

Ki-48 aircraft preparing for takeoff, date unknown.

Nose machine gun position of a Ki-48 bomber, date unknown.

Nose gunner of a Ki-48 aircraft exiting his position, date unknown.

Ki-48 aircraft releasing a bomb, date unknown. The ventral gun position is opened, as seen in the photo below.

Ventral machine gun position of a Ki-48 light bomber, date unknown.

Close-up of the nose of a Ki-48 light bomber in flight, date unknown.

Ki-48 aircraft being serviced, date unknown. Note starter truck at extreme right.

Bomb Damage Assessment photo of destroyed Ki-48 bombers at a Japanese airstrip in northern New Guinea, 1942-1943; note open parachutes in upper center.

Nakajima Kikka under construction.

Nakajima Kikka.

Beginning on 3 May 1939, Japanese bombers pulverize Chungking, China, Chiang Kai-shek’s capital since 1938, from the air.

Kamikaze pilots before a mission.

8.8 cm Flak 18 (Sfl.) auf schwere Zugkraftwagen 12t (Sd.Kfz 8).

The 8.8 cm Flak 18 (Sfl.) auf Zugkraftwagen 12t (Sd.Kfz. 8) , also known as the Bunkerflak or Bufla, was a German Wehrmacht half-track self-propelled gun developed before World War II and used in the first half of the war. It was used during the Invasion of Poland but is best known for its use during the Battle of France, where it was the only German self-propelled gun capable of destroying the heavier Allied tanks such as the French Char B1 and the British Matilda II. Remaining vehicles were used on the Eastern Front. The last Bufla was destroyed in 1943.

Description

The 8.8 cm Flak 18 (Sfl.) auf Zugkraftwagen 12t (Sd.Kfz. 8) consisted of a 8.8cm Flak 18 gun mounted on a pedestal in the rear of a Sd.Kfz. 8 half-track heavy artillery tractor ("DB s8" or "DB 9" model). A gun shield was provided for the 88, but the gun crew had no other protection. The driver's cab was replaced by a lower, armored cupola and the engine compartment was lightly (14.5 mm (0.57 in)) armored.

The upper body had a crew compartment with three bench seats, one for the driver and his assistant, and two others for the gun crew. The gun was mounted behind the crew compartment. It could fire directly ahead without any problem, but traverse was limited to 151° to each side by the gun shield. Elevation was between -3° and +15°. The windshield could fold forward and was also removable.

Design and Development

In the mid-1930s, most modern armies had standardized on anti-tank guns ranging from 37 mm to 45 mm. While adequate to knock out the tanks of the period, their relatively small, high-velocity rounds were ineffective against fortifications, even when high explosive ammunition was available for them. When planning for a war with Czechoslovakia, the German army needed a vehicle that could reduce armored gun turrets and concrete bunkers. Experience with the Flak 18 during the Spanish Civil War showed that it was effective against land targets such as bunkers and vehicles as well as against aircraft. For this reason, the Army Weapons Office asked for a more mobile version of Rheinmetall's 8.8 cm anti-aircraft gun.

Daimler-Benz combined the best of both designs in the DB s7 prototype which appeared in 1934. It used the same engine as the ZD.5, but otherwise bore little resemblance to the older model other than an upper body that had two bench seats for the crew behind the driver's seat. This upper body remained the same over the life of the Sd.Kfz. 8. It weighed 14.4 tonnes (14.2 long tons; 15.9 short tons) and could pull loads of 12 tonnes (12 long tons; 13 short tons). An improved version was introduced in 1936 as the DB s8. The heavier (15 tonnes (15 long tons; 17 short tons)) DB 9 model appeared in 1938. It used the Maybach HL 85 TUKRM engine, could carry an 800 kilograms (1,800 lb) payload and could tow a 14 tonnes (14 long tons; 15 short tons) load. Daimler-Benz tried unsuccessfully to use their diesel OM 48/1 engine, but it was repeatedly rejected by the Army Weapons Office.

Type: Self-propelled gun

Place of origin: Nazi Germany

In service: 1938–1943

Used by: Nazi Germany

Wars: World War II

Designed: 1938

Manufacturer: Krupp

Produced: 1938

Number built: 10

Specifications (DB 9)

Mass: 20 tonnes (20 long tons; 22 short tons)

Length: 7.35 m (24 ft 1 in)

Width: 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)

Height: 2.8 meters (9.2 ft)

Crew: 2+ gun crew

Armor: (14.5 mm (0.57 in)) on cab and engine

Main armament: 8.8cm Flak 18

Engine:

Maybach HL 85 TUKRM 8.5L 12-cylinder water-cooled petrol

185 horsepower (188 PS)

Payload capacity: 2,550 kg (5,620 lb)

Transmission: 4 + 1 speed ZF

Suspension: torsion bar

Ground clearance: 40 cm (16 in)

Fuel capacity: 250 liters (66 US gal)

Operational range:

250 km (160 mi) road

125 km (78 mi) cross-country

Maximum speed:

51 km/h (32 mph) road

21 km/h (13 mph) cross-country

Service History

All ten vehicles were assigned to the first company of the anti-tank battalion Panzerjäger-Abteilung 8 which participated in the Invasion of Poland in 1939, the Battle of France in 1940 and Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The company was redesignated as Panzerjäger-Kompanie ("Anti-Tank Company") 601 in January 1942 and then as the third company of Anti-Tank Battalion 559 the following April. It reported that the last three vehicles had been lost by March 1943.

Bibliography

Chamberlain, Peter, and Hilary L. Doyle. Thomas L. Jentz (Technical Editor). Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two: A Complete Illustrated Directory of German Battle Tanks, Armoured Cars, Self-propelled Guns, and Semi-tracked Vehicles, 1933–1945. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1978 (revised edition 1993).

Spielberger, Walter J. Halftracked Vehicles of the German Army 1909–1945. Atlgen, PA: Schiffer, 2008.