Japanese Type 96 radio

[Micdrow]

Interesting picture of a Japanese Type 96 Radio

[B-17engineer]

Woah thats really cool. Did they have radios in there aircraft. If so what kind? Thanks

[Micdrow]

Originally Posted by B-17engineer

Woah thats really cool. Did they have radios in there aircraft. If so what kind? Thanks

Hi B-17engineer
Check out this link. Japanese radio's were labled by types.

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/com...nder-6478.html (Japanese radio and direction finder)

[B-17engineer]

ohhhhhhhh thanks a lot!!

[Gman]

Originally Posted by B-17engineer

Woah thats really cool. Did they have radios in there aircraft. If so what kind? Thanks

Indeed, they did! The thing was that their radio systems were so fragile compared to other countries (and spare parts so hard to come by) that many pilots preferred to have them removed to save weight, rather than carry a non-working (and thus, useless) piece of equipment. Most Japanese pilots resorted to having to use hand signals to communicate (and countless pilots lost their lives due to this because there was no way to warn one another).
Besides all of this, their radios were temperamental and had extremely limited range.
Here is a website with some pretty excellent information on the subject:

Army Radio Sales Co.

[Gman]

Here is an actual photo of the Type 96 radio diagram posted by Micdrow.

Source: "Schiffers Military History- Japanese Aircraft Equipment 1940-1945", p.83, ISBN 0-7643-2097-1.