BILL EWING COLLECTION
No. 10833. Kugisho P1Y1c Ginga "Frances" ("T2-1702" c/n 8923) US Army Air Forces
Photograph from Greenborough Associates
Aeroplane Photo Supply (APS) Photo No. 4387

Kugisho P1Y1c Ginga

09/30/2011. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "Manufactured by Nakajima Hikoki K.K. at Koizumi, Ora District, this aircraft was one of three captured, that were given the Foreign Equipment numbers "FE-1700" to "FE-1702". Later they received the Allied Technical Intelligence Unit numbers "T2-1700" to "T2-1702"; the latter is shown here. This aircraft was equipped with the H-6 air-to-sea radar, hence the pole on the nose and the devices on the rear fuselage.

From February to July 1946, the aircraft was based at the Military Air Transport Service Command depot at Olmstead Field, Middletown, Pennsylvania, where it was flown and evaluated. In September 1948 the USAF transferred it to the Smithsonian, in January 1949 it was shipped to a temporary storage facility for aircraft and related artifacts at Chicago Orchard Airport, Park Ridge, Illinois.

A number of years later it was transferred to the Smithsonian storage site at Suitland, Maryland, and presently the Ginga (Milky Way) is stored at the Smithsonian Paul Garber Facility, Silver Hill, Maryland."

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Created September 30, 2011