Aircraft used for early Kamikaze attacks in WWII?

[jolihokistix]

A set of plates I found recently at an antiques market; these seem to have been produced to celebrate the formation of the Kamikaze squadrons. Does anyone recognize the airframe, or is this simply artistic license, or even an attempt to avoid wartime censorship?

At the end of a Wiki article on the somewhat similar looking Mitsubishi A5M it says: In the closing months of the war most remaining A5M airframes were used for kamikaze (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze) attacks.

Might they have used captured early airframes to start with? The thing looks more like a Boeing P-26 Peashooter.(?)

The plates are signed by the Kutani kiln, dated on the reverse Showa 19, or 1944.
海軍 Kaigun = Navy
零式戦闘機 = Reishiki Sentoki, Zero series fighter aircraft
神風特別攻撃隊 = Kamikaze Tokubetsu Kogekitai, Kamikaze Special Attack Force

Photos follow...

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1280x800/288ecd9b_bb50_4250_b189_c7c43ea8a78f_30de5e6a3a3311278b65e47 691f23fa73673881e.jpeg

[jolihokistix]

Yes, I agree that the sake cup is missing. Perhaps this question might have floated better over on one of the Japanese IJN veteran sites.

[treadigraph]

Hmmm, agree, doesn't half look like a Boeing P-26!

Nakajima Ki-11 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakajima_Ki-11) ?

[jolihokistix]

Ah, that’s good, and from there, listen to this!
Development of the Ki-11 began as a private venture in 1934, based on a wire (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_wires)-braced low-wing monoplane, inspired by the Boeing P-26 Peashooter (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_P-26_Peashooter).

[jolihokistix]

The design is the same on the accompanying plates.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1280x944/e9ab57d9_6699_41fe_975d_8a8770c71528_915276f63d6264cc1ce00e6 5986d3e845160912e.jpeg

[jolihokistix]

Well they had both an Army Air Force and a Navy Air Force, starting suicide attacks on different schedules.
Hoping that the plates above might have had some logic to them, I searched again for photographs of the earliest Zero precursors.
Close, but not the same. Giving up for now.
For what they are worth.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1280x875/1d8059cb_d68f_4148_89ea_2cb51c9215a1_0c05ad63fa8812dd3a7f596 8edd2bd089df2b460.jpeg


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/640x518/f0a67c75_5cd4_458e_a042_27f15a732d70_a33c17a8321833de6cfad9c a1d45587eaf74be5c.jpeg

[jolihokistix]

Having posted all of the above my brain has cleared somewhat, and I can see now that common sense would dictate first use of any old airframes no longer viable for aerial combat. The very first candidate might even have been dolled up and decked out like that for the grand official tape-cutting ceremony, where perhaps the artist drew his sketch.

And the delicious irony of sending a US aircraft to attack US ships!