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| IJN 702 Kōkūtai 2nd Hiko Buntai |
Aircraft History Built by Mitsubishi at Nagoya No. 3 Works during March 1943. At the factory, painted with green upper surfaces and gray lower surfaces. Delivered to the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as Type 1 Attack Bomber / G4M1 Model 11 Betty. Wartime History Assigned to 702 Kōkūtai (702 Air Group), 2nd Hiko Buntai. Tail code U2-323 was painted in white on both sides of the tail with a double width white stripe above the number and a single white stripe below. This bomber was speciailly equippd with Air-to-Surface Vessel (ASV) radar attached to the side of the nose. During early May 1943 this Betty was one of thirty-six from the air group that that took off from Kisarazu Airfield on flight bound for Tinian then ownward to Vunakanau Airfield near Rabaul. During the middle of May 1943 this Betty operated from Ballale Airfield armed with a partial bomb load on armed reconassiance missions to locate Allied vessels or convoys in the Solomon Islands. Wartime History Sometime in during June 1943, this bomber likely sustained damaged on a mission or was disabled while parked in the northern ravetment area of Ballale Island on Ballale Island. Afterwards, this Betty was stripped for usable parts and abandoned. Wreckage This bomber remains in situ on its landing gear parked in the northern area of Ballale Island near G4M1 Betty 1800. and a fuel bowser truck. Near the right wing is a large crater. Likely, this bomber was damaged or sustained further damage caused by this explosion. Sometime postwar, a tree trunk impacted the fuselage rear of the observation gondola causing the nose section to an upward. Sometime in the middle 1970s, another tree trunk hit the nose section ripping it open and leaving it hanging downward. The starboard engine is still present but broken off at the mounts and rests at a downward angle. The tail section is intact and it is possible to walk from the middle fuselage all the way to the tail turret. The right outer wing panel is missing on the starboard side, likely removed by the Japanese as a replacement part. During 1974, Charles Darby was able to read and photograph manufacture Number "1651" and tail code "U2-323". He observed ASW radar antennas on each side of the nose. Charles Darby adds: "[This] aircraft had the best surviving set of ASV aerial arrays along the nose. The aerial array on the G4M consisted of four flat-blade antennae each side of the nose. I rather think they were for an ASV Beacon Homing function, but the antennae would have been capable of receiving a wider range of frequencies than any corresponding Allied equipment that I am aware of. It would have been easy to miss noticing these flat-blade antennae on the derelict airframes at Ballale as they provided excellent shelves upon which birds-nest ferns could grow. Only when the ferns were removed were the radar antennae revealed!" References Pacific Aircraft Wrecks (1979) page 34 (center) , 74 (upper, middle) Contribute
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