Having been shamed by Jeff “Inch High” Groves and Jim “Crazy Canuck” Bates, both of whom have great blogs with actual content, and not just link farming, below is some research related to the Brengun MXY-7 Ohka I’ve been building.
I was surprised at how little period material is available on the MXY-7. There are lots of shots of dubiously restored aircraft, (according to wikipedia there are at least 14 survivors) but very little in the way of contemporaneous photos. There are some famous films of Ohkas discovered on Okinawa and a few after the war still shots in Japan. Below is a selection of shots from the internet with some notes.
This is a still from a color film on Youtube of the Ohkas on Okinawa. What is interesting in this shot is the very light gray at the wing root. The Okinawa Ohks are usually depicted as being overall light gray, but in this shot it appears that they are more of the RLM 02 type color usually seen on early Zeros. Jim Lansdale has illustrated the Ohka as having the brown-gray body and light gray wings.
There are two retractable tube one on either side of the Ohka windscreen. This photo, from the same film, shows one pulled out in the extended position. I suspect these were used for something when attached to the mothership. (If anyone knows for sure, let me know) The circular panel around the tube appears to be painted a different color. I thought it might be red, but I am not sure. You don’t see these tubes on all Ohkas.
Here is a screen capture from a grainy black and white allied intelligence film of the same aircraft. Note the tube in the retracted position and the darker circular panel surrounding the tube.
Here is a shot from a color film of a display of captured German and Japanese aircraft after the war. Note the color of the fuselage and wings. This supports Mr. Lansdale’s interpretation of the Ohka color scheme.
I’ll have a follow on post with more photos soon.
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