#floatplane scout

Prototype Suisei. A reconnaissance attack aircraft developed by the Imperial Japanese Navy toward the end of the Pacific War. Designed as a highly compact special aircraft for deployment from the "I-400-class submarines" with the purpose of launching surprise attacks after takeoff from submarines. It met the end of the war before formal adoption as a military aircraft, so the name with the prefix "prototype" indicating the development stage became its final official designation.

A Seagull V-1 floatplane takes off from the catapult of the Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra during an exercise. October 19, 1939

Fairey Swordfish floatplane, with HMW Hood and HMS Glowworm in Gibraltar, 1938.

Swordfish I K5662 at the Marine Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (MA&AEE) at Felixtowe in August 1936 carrying a dummy 1,650 lb torpedo.

Colorized photo from the time capturing the days of a "Type 0 Reconnaissance Seaplane" parked on Shortland Island during the Greater East Asia War. (*・∀・)ゞ #大日本帝国海軍 #零式観測機 #ショートランド #カラー復元

This is what Mogami's stern looked like in 1943. The monoplanes are Aichi E13A 'Jake' seaplanes, they first flew in 1939 and were a common scout airplane in the IJN for the entire war, with more than 1,400 being produced. Interestingly, some of them remained in service with the French from 1945 to 1947 during the First Indochina War.

The biplanes are Mitsubishi F1M 'Pete' seaplanes. These were the last biplane operated by the IJN, and nearly a thousand were built by 1944 when production stopped. They were versatile aircraft, being used as fighters, bombers, scouts, and towards the end of the war, as kamikaze aircraft.

February 19, 1942, 18:20

Central Pacific Naval Operations

The commander of the South Seas Force issued an order for the 17th Air Group and the floatplanes of Cruiser Division 6 to conduct search operations.

A Supermarine Walrus spotter-reconnaissance aircraft is stowed into a hangar aboard HMS King George V, March 1941. This flight was the first front-line Fleet Air Arm unit fitted with Air-to-Surface Radar, the Walrus being used for both gunnery spotting and reconnaissance.