Captured A-20
When the Japanese invaded the Netherlands East Indies, Malaya, and Burma, they captured a veritable treasure trove of Allied aircraft. A whole squadron of Dutch Buffalos was impressed at Jakarta.
Several crated Douglas attack bombers (DB-7 or A-20) were captured as well at Surabaya. One was tested by the IJAAF at the Tachikawa branch test center in Singapore and another by the IJNAF at Yokosuka. The photograph below by Torao SAITO, via Ryutaro NAMBU, is of one Douglas DB-7 having the Tachikawa test center insignia painted on its tail surfaces.
Photo credit: This photograph originally appeared in "Koku Asahi," a monthly magazine published by the Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, Japan. Photographers, where known, are credited on each photograph. Since no negatives or original prints remain in the Asahi Shimbun archives, the original photograph was scanned from a remaining copy of the "Koku Asahi" magazine and digitally enhanced with the kind permission from the Asahi Shimbun.
-Jim Lansdale
Researcher/historian Juzo NAKAMURA provided a photograph of a Nakajima Ki-49 Helen (R & D airframe for the Ki-58) undergoing evaluation and testing at Tachikawa (foreground below). According to NAKAMURA the airframe was painted overall yellow-orange with the Tachikawa insignia on the tail. This has not been confirmed!
Even more interesting is the view of the tail of a captured N.E.I. Douglas DB-7 (A-20) in the background complete with the GiKen insignia.
Photo credit: Minoru Akimoto via Juzo Nakamura.
-Jim Lansdale