Japanese Type 96 25mm Anti-Aircraft Gun – Single Mount
The Type 96 was a variant of the French Hotchkiss 25mm anti-aircraft gun and was made in Japan.
The Japanese produced the Type 96 anti-aircraft cannon with single (1943), double (1935) and triple (1941) gun mounts. The weapon was generally considered reliable but the mounts were very slow to move.
Note the rock keeping the gun pointed straight ahead. Layers of paint were helping to slow the rust.As with pretty much every display I’ve seen, the breech and receiver internals are gone.
Japanese Type 1 mobile 47 mm Rapid Firing Anti-tank Gun
The Type 1 was produced at the Osaka Army Arsenal – reflecting it was the year 2601 of the Japanese imperial year and went inhto production in 1942 with a total of approximately 2,300 being built.
I don’t know why I only have one photo – if you look on the web, everyone has this photo. I wish I had more angles.
There was more to see at Villa Escudero. Why I didn’t take more photos, of the displays, I don’t know. It was a beautiful resort and I will end this with my favorite photo from there.
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On July 16th, 2017, I had the opportunity to visit the Villa Escudero Plantation and Resort during a trip to the Philippines. Villa Escudero (VE) is a working coconut plantation about two hours drive from Manila near Quezon and was founded in the 1880s by Don Placidio Escuderio and his wife Dona Claudia Marasigan. It was opened to the public in 1981 and is definitely worth visiting either as a day trip or overnight.
The reason I am writing this is that outside their museum they have a number of interesting WWII Japanese artifacts on display. What caught my eye immediately was the aging hulk of a Japanese Type 89 I-Go Otsu Medium Tank. I vaguely knew the Japanese had some tanks in WWII but this was my first time actually seeing one in person.
Quick History of the Type 89
The Type 89 was designed in 1928 and fielded by the Imperial Japanese Army from 1932-1942. The light tank version waas based on the 10-ton French Renault FT tank and the 2o-ton design was based on the Vickers medium tank and so underpowered that it was redesigned to 10 tons based on the Vickers Medium C.
It had a crew of four, a 57mm Type 90 gun with 100 rounds of ammo and two type 91 machine guns on the hull and rear of the turret with 2,745 rounds of ammo.
Given the 1920s design, it was intended to support infantry and lacked the armor of allied tanks. The Type 89 was consideredd a poor match for the American M4 Sherman for example. The Type 89 was regarded as obsolete by 1939 but was fielded in the Philippines.
The Japanese produced a Type89A I-Go Ko with a gas engine and a machine gun on the right side of the hull. It could only hit 15.5 Km/h and 113 were produced.
The second variety was the Type89B I-Go Otsu. Production started on these in 1934 and they had an air-cooled Mitsubishi A6120VD 120HP diesel engine. The machine gun was on the left side of the hull, the front hull was a single plate. The diesel engine was preferred because they had better fuel economy, more torque at lower RPM and diesel is less explosive than gasoline during a fire. 291 Otsus were produced.
Given some digging, I found the following Imperal Japanese Army units with Type 89 tanks were in the Philippines:
7th Tank Regiment led by Colonel Seinosuke Sonoda from 1941 to 1942. The 3rd company of the 7th tank regiment advanced south along Route 5 towards Manila.
The 1st Tank Corps also had Type 89s
The 3rd Regiment had 26 Type 89s
The 4th Regiment had four Type 89s
Villa Escudero’s Type 89B
I am unsure of where VE obtained the Type 89B Otsu, if it was retrieved locally or just what. We can definitely say it is an Otsu because the machine gun is located on the left side of the hull (Ieft from the vantage of the crew looking forward).
Also, note the camo paint. I have seen black and white WWII-vintage photos of Type 89s with camo paint. I just can’t confirm the pattern or exact colors match.
This photo is from Wikipedia and is of a Type 89B Otsu during field trials. Note the camo pattern but we can’t tell the colors.This fellow climbed on the track and it gives you an idea of the Otsu’s size. The Otsu is 18′ 10″ long, 7′ 1″ wide and 8′ 5″ tall. The weight is 14.09 tons (12.79 metric tons).The main gun was a 57mm Type 90 that was lower-velocity and no match for the US M3 Lee’s 37mm cannon not to mention it couldn’t penetrate the Lee’s armor. The main gun could have helped with machine gun nests and vehicles lacking armor. It’s interesting the gun appears to be there but the machine gun is lonmg gone.Closer view of the front. The ring is off the tow point. There’s a closed hatch on the hull. I didn’t see any welds to lock up the track. I’ve seen static displays in other countries where the goverment welded parts so there would be no moving the vehicle. Front hull is a single plate riveted on.Closer view of the frontNotice the rear mounted machine gun cupola on the turret and the heat shield on the exhaust. Now look at that wierd attachment on the back. My best guess is it was added in to enable the tank to better back up without getting stuck or maybe even to handle barriers – going up ror down. Here’s a better look at that rear assembly. Clearly there are rounded skid plates. I see them in some historical photos and the video below but I didn’t find details on why they are ther. In some photos, there were supplies/boxes on top of it. I did find one very informative website that called this “unditching gear” that was added around 1937.A view of the rear drive wheels and that rear skid assembly. Rust is taking its toll. Kudos to Villa Escudero for maintaining it as best they can. The heat, humidity and being surrounded by the ocean takes its toll on anything made of steel over time.One last photo – I found the tread pattern very interesting.
Original Video
When I see something like this, I wonder what it looked like. Here’s a black and while video with sound from Youtube that shows the Otsus and you can see they have a camo pattern and also the rear skid assembly is present.
Conclusion
If you want to see some Philippine history, great views, and have some great food then visit Villa Escudero. I’d like to thank them for trying to preserve some unique history and make it accessible to visitors.
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I grew up with my dad taking me to see steam engines, steam trains and all kinds of machinery. I’m sure that’s why I find these things so fascinating today. My day job has a fair amount of travel and sometimes I get to see some really cool stuff. I was visiting Tokyo with my wife in April 2019 and we met up with a friend from her childhood, Spike, who showed us around.
One of the places Spike took us was the Ikuta Ryokuchi Park in Kawasaki — I think it was about an hour and a half from downtown Tokyo by train. Ryokuchi is a big park with different sections. We had a great time walking through a exhibits of traditional farms (Minka-en). Outside of the planetarium sat a very nicely preserved D51 Japanese steam locomotive.
There are a ton of pages that can tell you about the D51 “Mikado”-class locomotives – they where built for the Japanese Government Railroad (JGR from 1920-1949) and later the Japanese National Railways (JNR from 1949-1987) by Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock, Kisha Seizo, Hitachi, Nippon Sharyo, Mitsubishi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Construction happened in two periods 1936-1945 and also 1950-1951.
In total, 1,115 D51s were built. They had a 2-8-2 wheel layout, were just over 64 feel long, and the locomotive weighed approximately 84.7 US/short tons. Maximum speed was about 55 mph.
The trains were retired in Japan in 1975 though they were used in the Soviet Union until 1979 and 1983 in Taiwan. [click here for more information on Wikipedia plus this is a very interesting page in Japan]
The following is a photo gallery from the visit that you can open and scroll through:
The park is very much worth visiting and it was very cool to see this D51 up close.
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