A Crash Landed Kawasaki Ki-61 Being Inspected by the Marines

This sad Kawasaki Ki-61-I KAIc Hien, code-named 'Tony', had suffered several indignities during its short life. These marines were practicing the age old American art of "chicken plucking" for souvenirs. Before their arrival on the scene at this Okinawa airfield on 9 April 1945, the Japanese Army interceptor had been involved in a crash landing, and that piece of ground support equipment (oil drum) was evidently being used in an attempt to remove the propeller. Like ground crews of all nations, the line mechanics wanted to salvage what they could from the broken hulk, but the American invasion of April 1st quickly put an end to things. The Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien (飛燕, "flying swallow") was a Japanese World War II fighter aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. The first encounter reports claimed Ki-61s were Messerschmitt Bf 109s: further reports claimed that the new aircraft was an Italian design, which led to the Allied reporting name of "Tony", assigned by the United States War Department

Source :

Book "WWII Pacific War Eagles: China/Pacific Aerial Conflict in Original Color" by Jeffrey L. Ethell and Warren M. Bodie

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