Hi Frank --
I'm glad to provide what information I can, although there are surely others on the line who know more about this than I.
With regard to the unit identification of Trotskiy's airplanes, although in many cases it would be possible to figure out the air groups from the tail numbers, Trotskiy actually provides information in Japanese about the type of aircraft, the date, and the unit at the top of the page.
Although I am not fluent in Japanese, I have studied the language from time to time over the years, especially during my tour of duty there from 1987-1990. I can usually get the gist. Then I fall back on my Japanese character dictionary, my Japanese language reference books that contain such information as the
Kanji for the various aircraft carriers, and a couple of useful websites.
Two websites that are particularly useful for those interested in Japanese World War II aircraft:
J-Aircraft.com (
http://www.j-aircraft.com/index.htm especially the various research articles:
http://www.j-aircraft.com/research/otherres.htm )
and the Nihon Kaigun (Japanese Navy) site:
http://www.combinedfleet.com/ and specifically, the Japanese Naval Aircraft sub-site:
http://www.combinedfleet.com/ijna/ijnaf.htm .
I presume that among our Forum members, there are a number who can actually read Japanese (and Chinese readers can usually puzzle out the meaning by reading the
Kanji and ignoring the
kana phonetic characters).
Having said all that, there is a new aircraft up: the Zero Model 32 (A6M3) of the 2d Naval Air Group on New Guinea in January 1943 (Showa 18). The aircraft also has “Hokoku” number (Hokoku 877) on the side of the fuselage, indicating that the aircraft was paid for by donations from some group or individual and presented to the I.J.N. It is, by the way, the same model and markings that Trotskiy released last year.
Don