Navy good luck flag: 343 kokutai 301 hokusai

[rathbonemuseum.com]

Hello,

 

Purchased this flag a few years ago at SOS from reputable dealer. John Egger (RIP) had thankfully already looked at it and had done a preliminary translation of the flag. Being that this is a very famous unit (Genda's Sword, ace of ace group flying Shiden Kai interceptors), I was curious about the legitimacy of the flag and the signatures. I have the book "Genda's Blade" which lists many pilots but could not find any of the names on the flag listed. Could be a support/tech/mechanics, who knows.

 

Would love to discover some more history here! Thanks for your help

 

Tod

[Fortunes Of War]

Thank you for posting this flag.  Flags that can be identified to specific units are relatively rare.  Examples that can be traced back to famous units are even rarer and require more scrutiny.  I don't doubt that John was able to offer some translation on this flag, but I am bothered a little by a few things here.  As noted, the signatures do not seem to match any pilots names listed in the book.  You might be correct, however, in assuming that the names belong to support personnel.  It's a story but difficult to really know. 

Some of the names appear to be written in an almost unnatural manner, as if someone was copying them (note the 2 examples posted near the 12 o'clock position.)  I'm also bothered by the way that most of the lines are written quite neatly, in a straight up and down manner, but then 2 (on the left-hand side of the sun) are written in a sideways manner.  It's almost as if they were thrown in that way to make the signatures overall, seem more random.  The lines of kanji also appear to offer very little in the way of differences.  It's as if 2-3 people may have done the work.  It's simply a personal matter, but I wouldn't purchase this flag if it were offered to me.  

 

Mike     

[rathbonemuseum.com]

OK Mike. Thanks for the input.

 

[Fortunes Of War]

You are welcome; again, just my opinion.  

 

MikeB

[Eric Queen]

For what it's worth (and it may not be worth much) I agree with Mike. The writing looks very odd and unnatural to me.