World War II Database

1.  Bill says:
6 Oct 2011 08:55:53 PM

The G4M "Betty" had a lot of room for the crew on its flight deck. German Luftwaffe officers when touring the Mitsubishi plant in Japan, couldn't believe the G4M was a twin-engine bomber.

Let's get back to the photograph in IJN the aircraft commander sat in the right rear seat, so I guess he called the shots, as seen in photo, the pilot sat on the right, and co-pilot sat on the left check out the throttle quadrant between the two pilots positions were reversed from Western and American practice.
The navigator/bombardier/nose gunner would be at his station, and the same for the rest of the three gunners. Crew could be seven to even ten men, depending on the mission.

The Betty had a large multi-framed canopy in
the cockpit area, lots of plexiglass the heat will build up fast, with the suns heat beating through would be uncomfortable, so check out the overhead curtains I've seen photos that show them as pale yellow or the color of unbleached linen. I try not to make
any inaccurracy, but it happens.

2.  Bill says:
7 Oct 2011 12:14:10 PM

FLYING SAMURAI:

Let's get back to the flight crew, and take
a look at what equipment they are wearing.
Looks like standard flight suits, w/helmets
and goggles, kopak-filled life jackets with leather gloves, silk scarf and even a hachimaki headband used to keep sweat out of the eyes, and was a symbol of manly spirit.

Crews had both a summer and winter flight suit, but its hard to tell what type is worn in the photograph. I don't see any parachute harness on them, some aircraft commanders even carried a sword with them on missions.

The G4M1 Betty had long range, but at the expense of no armor protection for the crew or fuel tanks imagine sitting in a Betty cockpit and an Allied fighter shooting fifty caliber slugs at you, it must have been a nightmare, just a half-dozen hits in the cockpit, would damage the controls, or kill the crew, let alone into the fuel tanks and engines. Crews called the G4M1 "The Type One
Flying Lighter"