Mr. Krigbaum often writes about WWII ruins and the remains of wartime facilities down where he lives in Kyushu. Today, it is my turn to write about the remains of a wartime facility not far from where I live in…
Farewells from Chiran
What drives men to willingly drive an aircraft into a ship and what goes through the mind of a person scheduled for death and seemingly embraces the opportunity? There are stories from pilots of many nations flying damaged aircraft and…
A Recent History of Japanese Aviation: The Hamamatsu JASDF Museum
Some time ago, shortly after we started this blog, I wrote about the underwhelming castle in Hamamatsu. As I mentioned then, there is a lot more to see in Hamamatsu, and things that are more worth seeing. One of those…
Two Warbirds in One Little Museum
The first flying Zero to call Japan home in 70 years has come to Kanoya, in the far south of Kyushu. Flying or not, Japanese warbirds are a rare breed. They were never produced in the same numbers as…
Take Flight Into the Past
Kanoya, in the far south of Japan’s southernmost main island, is a rather inconvenient location for an air museum. It’s more than 500 miles from Tokyo and getting there via public transport requires taking a Shinkansen bullet train to the…