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Description
The Imperial Japanese Navy's Mitsubishi F1M (Type Zero Observation Seaplane) was introduced in 1940 (Imperial Year 2600/Showa Year 15) and served throughout World War II, with its role expanding from a catapult-launched gunnery spotter to a combination of fighter, bomber, long-range scout, transport, and rescue plane. With three machine guns, a light bomb load, and an 875-horsepower Mitsubishi Zuisei engine that could fly the plane at 230 miles per hour for 670 miles per hour, the F1M was well-equipped for most missions, which it had to be as Japan continued to lose aircraft and factories during the war and get more out of its remaining planes. In April 1942, after U.S. Navy torpedo boat PT-34 attacked (but failed to sink) the cruiser HIJMS Kuma, an F1M squadron launched from the seaplane carrier Sanuki Maru and attacked the boat. After Lieutenant Robert B. Kelly beached the sinking boat, the F1Ms continued strafing the shipwreck, though Lt. Kelly escaped the Philippines while his executive officer Ensign I.D. "Rich" Richardson joined the Philippine guerillas fighting the Japanese occupation. This model of an F1M with the tail code 213-02 at the Mitsubishi Minatomirai Industrial Museum in Yokohama was assigned to one of three battleships I have yet to exactly determine: HIJMS Yamato, HIJMS Musashi, or HIJMS Nagato.

Description
The Imperial Japanese Navy's Mitsubishi F1M (Type Zero Observation Seaplane) was introduced in 1940 (Imperial Year 2600/Showa Year 15) and served throughout World War II, with its role expanding from a catapult-launched gunnery spotter to a combination of fighter, bomber, long-range scout, transport, and rescue plane. With three machine guns, a light bomb load, and an 875-horsepower Mitsubishi Zuisei engine that could fly the plane at 230 miles per hour for 670 miles per hour, the F1M was well-equipped for most missions, which it had to be as Japan continued to lose aircraft and factories during the war and get more out of its remaining planes. In April 1942, after U.S. Navy torpedo boat PT-34 attacked (but failed to sink) the cruiser HIJMS Kuma, an F1M squadron launched from the seaplane carrier Sanuki Maru and attacked the boat. After Lieutenant Robert B. Kelly beached the sinking boat, the F1Ms continued strafing the shipwreck, though Lt. Kelly escaped the Philippines while his executive officer Ensign I.D. "Rich" Richardson joined the Philippine guerillas fighting the Japanese occupation. This model of an F1M with the tail code 213-02 at the Mitsubishi Minatomirai Industrial Museum in Yokohama was assigned to one of three battleships I have yet to exactly determine: HIJMS Yamato, HIJMS Musashi, or HIJMS Nagato.