History, at Random – Page 18 – The Past In The Present

Technology, Work, and The Future II: “Where The Jobs Go”: The View From Galaxy Science Fiction in 1966

Deprecated: Function create_function() is deprecated in /home3/emc2ftl3/public_html/wp-content/plugins/wp-spamshield/wp-spamshield.php on line 2033

Over five decades ago, multiple Hugo and Nebula Award winner Frederick Pohl wrote an editorial entitled “Where the Jobs Go”, which appeared in the April, 1966 edition of of Galaxy Science Fiction. The impetus for his essay was the New York City Transit Strike of January, 1966 (1). That event created an intellectual springboard for musings about the relationship between automation, information technology and employment, particularly in terms of the diminution – if not outright elimination – of existing occupations. Writing in the midst of the strike – with the cancellation of bus and subway transportation affecting millions of New Yorkers – the issues Pohl raised are even more pressing today than in 1966.

Pohl presented a specific example of the effects of technological change on employment, through his discussion about the future of publishing, with representatives of the Philadelphia-based Institute for Scientific Information (a.k.a. “ISI”) (2), and, Simon and Schuster. He clearly foresaw what today would be termed “on demand” publishing. Though he didn’t specifically estimate when this would occur, he understood that for the replication of printed information, the central dependence on and necessity for human activity, and in turn specific job categories, could in time be eliminated. In the mid-1960s, this was in the areas of linotype operation, printing, binding, storage, and sales. Bypassing and eventually supplanting the these steps – and the human role in them – could enable a customer; a user; a consumer; to produce a book, “on order, anywhere in the world”.

Which is where we’re at today.

Another notable aspect of Pohl’s editorial was the realization that there is a natural and perhaps inevitable tendency to perceive the uses, effects, and implications of any new technology through the context of the past. Pohl’s “twelfth-century armaments expert” has appeared throughout history in all venues of human endeavor: technological, military, economic, educational, and political.

Pohl’s other examples included bank tellers, retail clerks, and accounts. he realized that the commonality among these occupations was their general predictability and codification. His prediction: Technological advances in electronics (“black boxes”) would eventually supplant established work activities, let alone categories of employment.

Pohl didn’t really address issues that would in time (our time) be wrought by these changes. Instead, he concluded by simply suggesting – simplistically and optimistically; resignedly and pragmatically – their acceptance: “Postponing this revolution or slowing it down isn’t going to make us very well indeed; let’s swallow it and get it over!”

Perhaps he couldn’t have foreseen – could anyone? – the magnitude to which the issues he discussed – in terms of both physical and intellectual activity; in terms of social cohesion; in terms of geopolitical stability; in terms of ethics and morality – would rise to prominence only a few decades later.

His editorial follows below…

____________________

WHERE THE JOBS GO

As this is written, the city of New York is tying itself in knots because of a strike in the Transport Workers Union. All of the city subways, and nearly all of its buses, are idle. Workers can’t get to their jobs; shoppers can’t get to stores; salesmen can’t call on their customers; theatergoers can’t reach the plays for which they have bought tickets months in advance – in a word, the normal operations of the city have stopped.

All of this costs money. The current guess is that the paralysis of the city is costing it something like $100,000,000 a day or substantially more than the combined expense of the space program, the war in Vietnam and Medicare put together.

It is our opinion that this is only a beginning, because it begins to look clear to us that the real squeeze brought about by automation is going to express itself – has already begun to express itself – in a wave of strikes such as we’ve never seen before.

True, automation is not technically an issue in this strike. The TWU had its confrontation with the machines – the “Headless Horseman”, as Mike Quill called it – when the subways installed the first automated tracks a few years ago. At union insistence the Transit Authority provided a standby motorman on the train, whose principal efforts consisted of walking from one end of the train to the other each time it came to the end of its run. The automated was destroyed accidentally in a fire after a year’s trial – apparently to the unspoken relief of all parties. There has been no announcement of any plan to build another, but we would judge that its ghost haunts the negotiating tables.

Nearly all of the subway jobs involved are relatively unskilled – changemakers, conductors, station guards, motormen – with only a comparatively small number involved in maintenance, repair, construction and other more technically demanding jobs. And this is the edge that cuts. The subway workers have not been through the automation shakeout, when a large number of repetitive jobs are obsoleted and the jobs that are left require more training and more skill.

In other words, their productive capacity has not yet been multiplied by the machine factor. This produces two opposed points of view, both of them unarguable. Say the subway administrators and the public at large: These jobs just don’t call for that kind of money, and besides it would make the expense of running the subways ridiculously high. Say the subway workers: Other people putting in the same hours earn much more; we have to live in the same world with them, we have to compete with them to buy what we want in the stores, and we can’t do it unless we make as much money as they do.

This is the classical formula for the hardest-fought wars: both sides are right.

Is there any way to avoid more and even worse strikes than this one in the transition to the Cybernetic Age?

We doubt it very much. Certainly what is happening now is not the final struggle; in fact, the issues haven’t even been joined. The present subway strike is only a taste of what will come when “Headless Horsemen” are beginning to come out of the shops for all the major routes – and that day cannot be far off. Remember the newspaper strike of a couple years ago. That one was indeed fought on the issue of automation; but we have it on the word of the man who designed the systems that triggered the strike, Eugene Leonard, that it was the wrong fight at the wrong time over the wrong issues – because the systems that caused the strike were already obsolete at the time.

Not long ago we took part in a radio program with the aforementioned Gene Leonard, along with Arthur Elias of the Institute for Scientific Information and Henry Simon of Simon & Schuster, talking about the future of the publishing business in the Cybernetic Age. We started by discussing automated typesetting, and it took exactly twelve minutes by the studio clock before we had reached a proposal for high-speed facsimile machines which would produce a book to your order, anywhere in the world. In twelve minutes we not only got rid of the human linotype operator, but abolished the linotype itself and went on to obsolete the printing press, the binderies, the warehouses and the publishing house’s road salesmen.

Is such a new kind of publishing technologically feasible right now? Certainly. Is it likely to come into being in the next few years? Certainly – cultural lag doesn’t permit us to move that fast – but it, or something like it, is surely the shape of the publishing business some time in the future.

We tend to think of automation’s effect on our own jobs in terms of a wilier, cheaper competitor to do the same things we’re doing right now. In the event it isn’t going to be like that at all. An analogy: Suppose we resurrected some twelfth-century armaments expert and asked him how he thought we should employ the resources of modern technology to build weapons. No doubt he would be delighted; at once he would proceed to the fabrication of sharper lances, springier bows, truer shafts; and just how far would his troops get against H-bombs or napalm grenades?

Unfortunately, our own outlook on our own jobs is largely medieval. The long lines of girls who used to assemble radio components don’t get replaced by speedier machine assemblies; they get put out of business entirely by printed circuits. The stockbreeders who used to export power to the cities in the form of draft animals weren’t hurt by competition from more efficient breeders. They simply ceased to have a market when the cities began exporting power to the farms, in the form of tractors and trucks.

Just so, in the long run (which may be measured in years or even months, these days), the bank tellers and retail clerks and accounting departments are not as likely to be replaced by whirring black boxes which accept ten-dollars bills and return change as they are to be retired completely by new electronic credit systems. The machines don’t confine themselves to doing our jobs faster and more reliably – and cheaper. They make it unnecessary for a great many of our jobs to be done at all.

Meanwhile, we have the strikes. More and more of them, we would bet; worse and worse strikes, costing us more and more money. (Each day’s loss to New York under the current subway strike would build a couple dozen handsome new schools.)

As long as Smith, operating at a job with only his own decision-making power, lives next door to Jones, whose decision-making power and consequent productivity is multiplied by the machine factor, they’ll go on; because Smith eats as many pork chops in a year as Jones, his children wear out as many clothes, his car uses as much gas – and he wants as much money. Postponing this revolution or slowing it down isn’t going to make us very well indeed; let’s swallow it and get it over! – THE EDITOR

___________________

Akin to my prior post “The Past As Prologue: Technology, Work, and The Future – The View From 1947” (which was based on a New Republic article “Communications Revolution” from 1947) “this” post includes – below – links to a variety of articles, essays, and a video or two. They cover topics such as the effect of the Internet and technological change upon employment, and, social stability (both domestically and internationally); the return – with a searing vengeance – of the question of “class” in contemporary America (it never really went away), whereby social status has become a zero-sum-game conferred through thought, belief, pose, and moral intent; the impact of automation and robotics on employment; the economic and social corrosiveness of an informational oligopoly; the cognitive and cultural effects of “social” media. And, in an age of ostensible meritocracy, the not uncommon lacuna between intelligence and wisdom.

The commonality among these writings is that most (not all) have been published since February of this year (2017), when I created that “first” post covering the 1947 essay from The New Republic.

For future blog posts concerning technology, economics, employment, and society, I hope to present links to similar writings, as they become available.

____________________

Thoughts of Note

Uncertainty Without Principles

Rod Dreher – Economic Insecurity
(The American Conservative – February 20, 2017)

Nicholas N. Eberstadt – Our Miserable 21st Century
(Commentary – February 15, 2017)

Esther Kaplan (Photography by David M. Barreda) – Losing Sparta: The Bitter Truth Behind the Gospel of Productivity
(Virginia Quarterly Review – Summer, 2014)

Michael Lind – The New Class War
(American Affairs – Summer, 2017)

David Ramli – Jack Ma Sees Decades of Pain as Internet Upends Older Economy
(Bloomberg.com – April 23, 2017)

Walter Scheidel – The Only Thing, Historically, That’s Curbed Inequality: Catastrophe
(The Atlantic – February 21, 2017)

Yves Smith – How Financialization and the “New Economy” Hurt Science and Engineering Grads
(Naked Capitalism.com – May 12, 2017)

____________________

The New Zero Sum Game: Social Status in America* in the 21st Century (The Aristocracy Reborn?)

Matt Stoller – On Mocking Dying Working Class White People
(Medium.com – March 24, 2017)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/matthewstoller

Lambert Strether – Frank Rich, the Trump Voter, and Liberal Eliminationist Rhetoric
(Naked Capitalism.com – March 27, 2017)
*And beyond.

____________________

Avarice In the Guise of Altruism

Kevin D. Williamson – Why Corporate Leaders Became Progressive Activists
(National Review – March 13, 2017)

Michael Hobbes – Saving the World, One Meaningless Buzzword at a Time
(Foreign Policy – February 21, 2017)

____________________

Robotics and Jobs: The Unknown Future

Nicholas Carr – The Digital Industrial Complex
(Rough Type – May 12, 2017)

Nicholas Carr – The Robot Paradox
(Rough Type – May 16, 2017)

Tyler Cowen – Industrial Revolution Comparisons Aren’t Comforting
(Bloomberg.com – February 16, 2017)

Jack Ma – World Leaders Must Make ‘Hard Choices’ or the Next 30 Years Will be Painful (CNBC.com – June 21, 2017)

Cade Metz – The AI Threat Isn’t Skynet, It’s the End of the Middle Class
(Wired – February 20, 2017)

Claire C. Miller – The Long Term Jobs Killer is not China. It’s Automation
(The New York Times – December 21, 2016)

Claire C. Miller – Why Are We Doing This to Ourselves
(The New York Times – December 28, 2016)

Claire C. Miller – How to Prepare for an Automated Future
(The New York Times – May 3, 2017)

Rick Moran – The Huge Economic Issue That Washington Isn’t Talking About
(Pajamas Media – February 12, 2017)

Clive Thompson – The Next Big Blue-Collar Job Is Coding
(Wired – February 8, 2017)

Victoria Turk – Don’t Fear the Robots Taking Your Job, Fear the Monopolies Behind Them
(Motherboard.com – June 19, 2014)

Marcus Wohlsen – When Robots Take All the Work, What’ll Be Left for Us to Do?
(Wired – August 8, 2014)

____________________

From Prose to Power. And, More Power.

Franklin Foer – Amazon Must Be Stopped: It’s too big. It’s cannibalizing the economy. It’s time for a radical plan.
(The New Republic – October 9, 2014

George Packer – Cheap Words: Amazon is Good for Customers. But Is It Good for Books?
(The New Yorker – February 17 and 24, 2014)

Matt Stoller – Why We Need to Break Up Amazon… And How to Do It
(Medium.com – October 16, 2014)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/matthewstoller

____________________

“Social” Media

Nicholas Carr – Zuckerberg’s World
(Rough Type – February 28, 2017)

Nicholas Carr – How Tec hnology Created A Global Village and Put Us at Each Other’s Throats
(The Boston Globe – April 21, 2017)

David Foster – Mark Zuckerberg as Political and Social Philosopher
(ChicagoBoyz.net – March 7, 2017)

Annalee Newitz – Mark Zuckerberg’s Manifesto is a Political Trainwreck
(Arstechnica.com – February 18, 2017)

____________________

Intelligence Or Wisdom

Andy Beckett – Accelerationism – How a Fringe Philosophy Predicted the Future We Live In
(The Guardian – June 5, 2017)

Gregory Ferenstein – The Disrupters: Silicon Valley elites’ vision of the future
(City Journal – Winter, 2017)

E.M. Oblomov – Intelligentsia Elegy: American Intellectuals are at Odds with the Workings of Democracy
(City Journal – February 3, 2017)

Paul G. Raven – We’re Reading Up on Transhumanism
(Arcfinity.com – 2014)

Andrew Russell and Lee Vinsel – Hail the Maintainers: Capitalism Excels at Innovation But is Failing at Maintenance, and For Most Lives It Is Maintenance That Matters More
(Aeon.com – April 7, 2016)

____________________

On a hopefully lighter (!) note, this post ends with two illustrations that graced the interior of the April 1966 issue of Galaxy, both of which complemented Jack Vance’s remarkable Hugo and Nebula Award winning novella, “The Last Castle”. They’re by science-fiction artist Jack Gaughan. They show a Phane and a Mek.

To learn more, you can read about “The Last Castle” at Battered, Tattered, Yellowed, & Creased.

(For more literary illustrations, particularly from the “Golden Age” of science-fiction, you might want to visit: http://wordsenvisioned.com/.) [Shameless plug.]

Notes

(1) From Wikipedia: New York City’s Transport Workers Union, and, Amalgamated Transit Union, called a strike against the city’s Transit Authority on January 1. The strike was resolved by the 13th, through a package comprising, “wages increases from $3.18 to $4.14 an hour, an additional paid holiday, increased pension benefits, and other gains.” The strike also resulted in the passage of the Taylor Law, which defined, “rights and limitations of unions for public employees in New York.”

(2) Also known as “ISI”; later “Thomson-ISI”, then the Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters; now “Clarivate Analytics”. The title of the enterprise’s next iteration – should one occur – is unknown.

References

New York City 1966 Transit Strike, at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_New_York_City_transit_strike

Frederick Pohl (biography), at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederik_Pohl

“The Last Castle” (by Jack Vance), at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Castle_(novella)

____________________

PHANE

____________________

MEK

Japanese Technology at War: The Interrogation Transcript of a Japanese Naval Aviation Mechanic in 1944

The central focus of literature about military aviation has traditionally revolved around the men – the aviators – who fly and fight within combat aircraft.

Accounts concerning a less acclaimed but still vital aspect of aerial warfare – the maintenance and repair of military planes – are far fewer in number. But, regardless of the conflict, country, or military force, the maintenance, modification, and repair of military aircraft has been an essential aspect of combat flying since the inception of military aviation.

____________________

This post covers one such example. It’s an interrogation transcript of a Japanese Petty Officer First Class who served in the 751st Naval Air Unit (3rd Maintenance Unit, to be specific) at Vunakanau, Rabaul, from September of 1943 through February of 1944. He was captured by an American destroyer after the two naval transports on which he was successively a passenger – the Kokai Maru, and Nagaura Maru – were sunk in late February of 1944. His interrogation transcript presents an interesting and detailed account of his service as a mechanic on G4M Betty bombers, his activities including adjustment of propellers and engine electrical wiring, with his specific duty being servicing carburetors.

His position as an engine mechanic in the 751st, coupled with having been stationed at Vunakanau (he was present during a 5th Air Force strafing attack against that airdrome in October of 1943), his observations of Japanese military aircraft, and aspects of his military service such as his observations of Allied POWs, open an unusual window upon the history of the Pacific Air War.

Unfortunately, the man’s name is not given, but the document does provide a few clues about his background. Born on May 5, 1920, in Toyohashi (Aichi Prefecture, on Honshu), he completed six years of primary school and two years of higher primary school (equivalent of American 8th grade)?, and worked as an assistant at a silk cocoon and silk thread processing farm.

Were he alive today, he would be 97 years old.

____________________

The Report was discovered at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland, where – listed as Interrogation Report No. 357 – it’s one of the 783 ATIS (Allied Translator and Interpreter Services) Interrogation Reports of Japanese Prisoners of War, which date from September of 1942 through September of 1945.

Importantly… A list of titles of the specific titles of all ATIS Interrogation Reports can be found at the website of Japan’s National Diet Library. This is an invaluable resource, for along with the Report Number, it lists the identity of the military unit to which the captured POW belonged, and even in some cases the name of the POW.

____________________

Given that the interrogating officer placed special emphasis on radar carried by G4M bombers, this post includes some of the very few images available of the components and features of the Type 3 Ku-6 radar system. (Now, where does one find the instruction manual for the Ku-6?!)

I’ve transcribed the Interrogation Report, which is available for you here, in PDF format.

Paralleling the original physical document, the PDF includes four representative sketches drawn by the POW, showing characteristics of the Kyushu Shiden, the modified tail gun position of the G4M bomber, and the configurations of the nose and tail antenna installations of the Ku-6 radar. Note that the POW illustrated the nose radar antenna as projecting “whisker-like” – perpendicular – from the fuselage. However, the images below show the Ku-6 nose antenna as a single mast extending forward from the bomber’s nose, with smaller antenna extending to both sides of the main mast.

____________________

Here are images of the first two sheets of the Interrogation Report, complete with NARA’s declassification sticker at the top. The first image illustrates the supplementary handwritten notes, and stamps, and signature on the original document.

Excerpts from the text of the document follow below…

____________________

Designation and Markings of the 751st Naval Air Group

4. UNIT OR FORCE

751 Naval Air Unit PW believed 751 Naval Air Unit would have been disbanded by now because of severe losses. When unit arrived at RABAUL, Sep 43, it had about 40 airplanes. Owing to ALLIED raids, Unit had only 20/25 airplanes in Jan 44, and by Feb 44 only 15 were left. On 19 Feb 44, he heard all remaining airplanes were sent on a special suicide mission against ALLIED Naval forces then attacking either TINIAN or TRUK. PW doubted that any survived.

Change in Tail Markings of 751 Naval Air Unit

At KANOYA – Apr 42 Tail marking was K-300 series in white numbers on dark green background. Thought the K stood for KANOYA.

At KAVIENG – Aug 42 Unit name was changed from KANOYA Naval Air Unit to 751 Naval Air Unit and marking was changed simply to the 300 series, the K being dropped. Numbers were painted in white.

At TINIAN – Jun 43 The marking was changed to read Z2 followed by 300 series in white.

At RABAUL – til Nov 43 The marking was changed back to simply the 300 series painted in
white, Z2 being dropped.

At RABAUL – from Dec 43 on The marking was altered to 51 followed by 300 series. Thought 51 possibly referred to the last two digits of 751. Thought tail marking was changed on Units’ arrival at each new base.

Unit Losses (See Sec 7, “Modification of BETTY Tail Turret”)

____________________

Information about Kawashini N1K2 Shiden Fighter Plane;
Possible Reference to Mitsubishi Ki.67 Type 4 Hiryu Bomber

7. SHIPS AND AIRPLANES

Super Fighter (KYOKUCHI SEN) (#1) (See Appendix “A”). PW had not seen it but another maintenance man who arrived at RABAUL from JAPAN (Feb 44) told him about this airplane and drew him a sketch. PW thought KYOKUCHI SEN was only a factory name and that Navy might already have given airplane another name.

Following are particulars he heard:

Type Fighter pursuit ship (TSUI GEKI KI) said to be much faster than the ZEKE or the P-38 and thought it was the Navy equivalent of the Army TOJO because he recognized similarities when shown a photo of the TOJO.

Construction Slightly larger in all dimensions than the ZEKE and silhouette from side was “fatter”. Cockpit was set well back (about middle of fuselage).

Engine KASEI, of about 1300 HP.

Performance Could climb very fast and maintain a steady climb at an angle of about 40^o. It required as much runway to take off as did the ZEKE. Not capable of more than four or five hours’ continuous flight.

Armament 13 mm MGs and 20mm machine cannon.

Propellers Either 3 or 4 blade.

Manufacturer Possibly KAWANISHI. It was originally produced as a float airplane fighter and when tested showed excellent speed, manoeuvrability and climb. Better results were obtained in tests with undercarriage changed to ordinary ground landing gear. It was then decided to make slight modifications and produce it as a regular Navy pursuit ship.

General When first produced in quantity and delivered to Naval Air Units in JAPAN it was used in training. However, because of its frail construction it many times disintegrated in the air, so was temporarily banned from Service about end 43 or beginning of 44, but after it had been reinforced it was used again.

Y20 While at RABAUL PW heard of a new Naval Bomber called Y20 or Land Bomber (RIKU BAKU) which was a cross between Type 96 2EB NELL Mk 2 and Type 1 2EB BETTY. It was said to be smaller and much faster than BETTY, carrying a crew of only three or four. It could carry the same bomb load but fly a greater distance than BETTY and was equipped with 13mm MGs. Heard it was made by MITSUBISHI and used by some Naval Air Units.

PW thought Y20 was the factory number, and had never heard of its official name.

____________________

Modification of G4M Tail Turret

Modification of BETTY Tail Turret About Jan 43 while 751 Naval Air Unit was at KAVIENG twenty BETTYs went on a bombing mission to GUADALCANAL, and only six returned. Airmen who returned complained that revolving tail turret of BETTY was so sluggish and difficult to operate that they were unable to cope with ALLIED fighters, which concentrated their attack on their tail.

Unit therefore effected an immediate improvement by cutting away part of the tail turret to allow freer action of tail gun, although such modification made the airplane at least two or three knots slower. They simply cut the section right off and did not add any supporting brackets, or covering shield. The tail was left entirely open, allowing the gunners full traverse of the rear gun. (See Sketch 1 Appendix “B”).

While at TINIAN, Aug 43, about ten new BETTYs arrived for the Unit and they all had improved tail turrets allowing freer action of the rear gun. The modifications had been effected at the factory in JAPAN, and observed from the top, the tail turret had a “V” shaped section cut away. This type of turret was also entirely open. (See Sketch 2, Appendix “B”).

____________________

An American POW at Rabaul

(Probably 1 Lt. Bernard E. Sahl of VMF-223, shot down over Vunakanau in F4U-1 57464 on December 25, 1943; Severely burned; mentioned in Report by Lt. John M. Arbuckle; Held captive by 81st Naval Guard Unit; “executed” (euphemism…) while POW, probably mid-1944)

13. MORALE AND PROPAGANDA

JAP Prisoners of War PW had heard that at NOMONHAN, one complete SENDAI Unit, about 2,000 men, was captured by the RUSSIANS. When the truce was made, those men were returned to JAPAN. Unit CO committed suicide and it was arranged for the 2,000 men to be sent back to MANCHURIA, rather than to allow then to remain in JAPAN.

ALLIED PsW On Air Objective Folder No. 92.2 SINGAPORE, PW located an ALLIED PW camp holding thousands of prisoners, as being immediately North of Empire Dock Area. (Target 12). While on a six-hour leave (Apr 42), he had seen three large, two storey barracks, each capable of housing 500 to 600 men under JAP Army standards. White PsW could be seen at the windows and one stood guard at the front of the barracks. There was no fence or wall around camp.

Aug 42, while KATSURAGI MARU was docked at Target Area 11 for three days, PW saw white prisoners crossing by boat to BLAKANG MATI Island just off the Southern tip of SINGAPORE Island. They did not seem to be working. They wore light khaki clothing.

In Nov 43, a Fighter was shot down near a native village near VUNAKANAU airfield. Pilot was brought by natives to HQ 751 Naval Air Unit. As there was no interpreter present prisoner was sent to RABAUL. PW heard that prisoner was a Capt. He was about 5’7” tall and heavily built. He wore no rank badges but on the sleeve of his flying suit was yellow or gold badge on a black or blue background. The pilot was uninjured except for burns on the face.

He had seen ALLIED PsW working around RABAUL. It was not customary to guard them since they could be quickly identified if they attempted to escape.

____________________

Here’s an image of G4M1 Betty “367” which the POW – perhaps? – may actually have seen and maintained. The aircraft belongs to the 751st Naval Air Group, and was photographed during the 345th Bomb Group’s strafing attack against Vunakanau on October 24, 1943. The image is one of several pictures of 751st NAG G4M bombers appearing in Lawrence Hickey’s Warpath Across the Pacific. Six of these aircraft carry three-digit tail numbers, the leading digit being a “3”.

____________________

The interrogation accorded much attention to the Type 3 Ku-6 radar carried in the G4M bomber. The following three images, from the USAAF photo collection at Fold3.com, show a G4M2a bomber equipped with this device, as well as other notable aspects of the G4M2. This aircraft – 763-12 – is the subject of a three-view illustration in William Green’s 1969 book Famous Bombers of the Second World War.

____________________

Photographed at Clark Field in 1945, aircraft number “12” of the 763rd Kokutai is shown under examination by members of the Air Technical Intelligence Division of the Army Air Force, with Sergeant H.W. Willis (from Beckley, West Virginia) prominently appearing in two of the images.

The photo caption for this image (A-68394 AC / A30416) states that the aircraft had been strafed by P-51s but was not badly damaged. Sergeant Willis is standing next to the port gun window. The portly yet nicely streamlined shape of the fuselage is quite apparent, as are the dorsal and tail mounted Type 99 cannon mounted in those positions. Also visible are the radar antennas mounted in the tip of the nose, and, alongside the rear fuselage. The latter is entirely consistent in configuration with the description given by the POW.

____________________

This image (68389 AC / A30413) shows Sergeant Willis examining the port Type 99 cannon. (Is he handling an ammunition magazine?) Notable details include what appears to be a flash suppressor at the cannon’s muzzle; the cylindrical notch at the rear of the waist position for stowage of the cannon (via the flash suppressor); the circular fuselage entry hatch upon and around which the Hinomaru has been painted; the mounting struts for the radar antenna. Also, notice the rectangular data plate painted below the port stabilizer.

____________________

The last of the three pictures (68390 AC / A 30414) of Sergeant Willis and Betty 763-12 shows fascinating aspects of the plane and its equipment. Enlargement of the data plate shows the serial number to be “2134”. Though very faint in the photo, someone has hastily scrawled the warning “BOOBY TRAPPED! DO NOT (rest of the text is illegible, but the meaning is clear)…” below the horizontal stabilizer. The cut-away modification to the tail gun position described and sketched by the POW is very obvious. Finally, the life raft. The photo caption states that Sergeant Willis is, “…examin[ing] the novel life raft with which the plane is equipped. He is using the bellows which inflate the boat. The raft is made of light rubberized material [and] is propelled with wooden paddles.”

__________________

The Rising Decals company (Czech Republic), manufacturer of aftermarket decals and detail sets for Japanese aircraft of the Second World War, has produced an update kit for creating 763-12 based on Hasegawa’s 1/72 G4M2. This image shows the components of the update set, further illustrating the configuration and mounting of the Type 3 Ku-6 antennas.

____________________

This image, from the website of the National Air and Space Museum, shows a Type 3 Ku-6 (Model 4) radar set and associated connecting cables.

____________________

Here are three views of the cathode ray tube utilized in the Ku-6 Radar, also from the National Air and Space Museum website.

References

ATIS Interrogation Report 357, from Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, Assistant Chief of Staff (G-2) Intelligence Library Project File, ATIS Interrogation Reports. (NARA Records Group 165, Box 325, Entry 79, Shelf Location 390/33/27/5-6/7)

Green, William, Famous Bombers of the Second World War, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, N.Y., 1960 (Mitsubishi G4M Type I, pp. 52-58)

Green, William, Famous Fighters of the Second World War, Hanover House, New York, N.Y., 1958 (Kawashini Shiden pp. 111-116)

Hickey, Lawrence H., Warpath Across the Pacific – The Illustrated History of the 345th Bombardment Group During World War II, International Research and Publishing Corporation, Boulder, Co., 1984 (751st Naval Air Group G4M bombers, pp. 78-79)

Thorpe, Donald W., Japanese Naval Air Force Camouflage and Markings – World War II, Aero Publishers, Inc., Fallbrook, Ca., 1977

National Diet Library of Japan (English-language version), at http://iss.ndl.go.jp/?locale=en&ar=4e1f

Index to all ATIS Interrogation Reports, with English-Langauge descriptions, at National Diet Library of Japan (click hypertext)

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /home3/emc2ftl3/public_html/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4365