The official AHF Japan at War quiz thread

[grassi]

Survivors of USS Indianapolis (CA-35)?

Best regards


grassi

[AVV]

Good evening, Grassi!
Quite right!
Photo source: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/imag ... 490322.jpg
Over to you and welcome to Japan at War quiz!

Best regards, Aleks

[grassi]

Thanks Aleks!
The combination of the both photos and Wikipedia made it quite clear.

Japan at War quiz - how to fly with the big guys?
Hm.
I have got this one - it's an easy one:
Name the city with a ghetto under Japanese control which was inhabited by ca. 18.000 Jews.

Best regards

grassi

[AVV]

Sorry for quick answer, still...
Is it Shanghai (IIRC there were two synagogues there before WW2 - both were destroyed in 1960s during Mao's Great Cultural Revolution)?

Best regards, Aleks

[grassi]

You're fast, you're right!
Over to you, Aleks!

Best regards

grassi

[johnbryan]

What was the nickname for the Battleship Yamato after being anchored in Truk Lagoon from August 1942 to May, 1943?

[AVV]

Greetings!

Well, although it was my turn to ask, I think johnbryan's question is worth answering...

Best regards, Aleks

[Sewer King]

The great ship was referred to as "Yamato Hotel"

I have seen two different tellings of this nickname -- one in admiration, because of the good food, spacious crew bunking, and plentiful air conditioning. The other in resentment, because she stayed at Truk and did not see action for so long, leading sailors to talk this way of her.

If this is the answer, I return the next question to Aleks.

-- Alan

[AVV]

Hello!

As johnbryan and Alan obviously aren't willing to keep the quiz moving I think if someone has a good question concerning Japan at war, it is the right time to post it here.

Best regards, Aleks

[Sewer King]

Certainly I was willing to continue the quiz -- I only wanted to return you your turn, and I had no new one of my own at that time. But now I have a technical question:

By mid-war the US Navy was working on early concept of the attack plane, which was designed for both bombing and torpedo use. It would replace specialized planes for either role. This led to the Douglas XSB2D-1 Destroyer. Although It was not successful, an attack plane was developed by late-war as the Douglas AD Skyraider that saw long success through Korea and Vietnam.

What was the IJN's proposed attack aircraft of this same type?

-- Alan

[Mostlyharmless]

I am not sure that it is an exact equivalent but the Aichi B7A Ryusei http://www.aviastar.org/air/japan/aichi_b7a.php seems to have some similarities as it first flew around 6 months earlier, had an internal bomb bay and dive brakes but could also carry a torpedo externally (was the torpedo for the Destroyer carried externally?). Both had inverted gull wings but the American aircraft was significantly heavier and had a more powerful engine (there was a B7A3 proposal with a Mitsubishi MK9A but it never flew).

[Sewer King]

Correct! The B7A was Japan's shipboard attack plane in this same concept.

Although smaller than the XSB2D Destroyer, it was large for a Japanese carrier aircraft and would not have fit in the deck elevators of most of the IJN's carriers then in service. The 11m maximum length was waived since the B7A was to be flown from newer fleet carriers.

(Rene Francillon's Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War (Naval Institute Press, 1979), page 288-290)

• I have not found which new carrier was meant (or hoped) to embark this plane -- I thought it might have been Taiho, or maybe Shinano? -- but don't know how large their elevators were.

According to the aviastar link, the Destroyer began production in 1944 but only 28 were delivered before the war's end. Were they intended for the new Midway-class carriers, similar to the B7A's intent for its own new carrier?

And over to you

-- Alan

[AVV]

Good evening!

But now I have a technical question:

Thanks, Alan - a good question indeed!

Besr regards, Aleks

[Mostlyharmless]

Thanks Alan. You had me worried by using the word “proposed” that you needed details of something really obscure such as the Aichi B8A Mokusei, which probably never even reached a mockup.

For a question, can anyone give me details of two professors at Tokyo Imperial University in the Early Thirties, who were probably not on the Christmas Card list of most Japanese ultra nationalists. YK was a professor of international law and favoured intervention by the League of Nations in Manchuria. He believed that assisting a region of a country to split off was an illegal interference in another country's affairs and supported the Stimson Doctrine. YT was a professor of colonial policy and wrote “the foundation of Japan's China policy must lie in aiding in the creation of a modern, unified Chinese nation.” If you only know one of these, I will probably give it to you but I asked about both as they are easily confused (at least by me).

[Mostlyharmless]

I will add some extra information on the professors. YK was involved in the Institute of Pacific Relations. YT was a Christian and was strongly influenced by surviving an attack on his train by Chinese “bandits” in Manchuria. YT was president of the university postwar.