Japanese Militaria at Castle-Thunder.com

[abc1959]

Gentlemen,
I am new to this forum and have come across a fuse(?) with japanese markings. It has reverse threads and appears to have malfunctioned after release from the plane or whatever carried it. The wire that pulls the safety was apparently not attached so the safety stayed intact and the solder trigger that would have pushed the striker and detonated the ordinance deformed but never detonated. The solder trigger is deformed indicating to me that the ordinance was actually dropped. I will get pictures as soon as I refresh the batteries in my camera.

The story I pieced together relates to the gentleman from whom we just bought a house. His grandfather was stationed in Pearl in December of '41 and as his luck would have it was out on maneuvers with his ship when the attack came. I can only surmise that when he got back, being very young and non-rated, he was assigned many details cleaning up the place and came about the fuse when the ordinance disposal boys found an undetonated bomb. He later retired as a Chief Bos'uns Mate which indicates that he either stayed in for 50 some odd years or gave his first-born. 'Course that could also mean that he was a BM2c during the war which accounts for having the pull to keep the fuse.

These are only grand assumptions and I apologize for not having pictures. I will attempt to describe it and post pictures later today or early tomorrow.

Brass construction, shaped like a Christmas tree with a large course reverse-threaded base. Comes apart at the bottom with reverse threads and inside the housing is the striker pin and ring with four loose pie-shaped brass pieces within the ring situated around the pin. It is wrapped by a brass wire attached to the safety pin which is a u-shaped brass affair. The top, where the star would be is solder or aluminum and is quite deformed. I would describe the japanese characters, but we'll have to wait for the pictures.

Thanks for your indugence,
Alan Courtney
USN MM1(SS)
'77-'83
Lexington, SC

[gwsiii]

Alan, Welcome to the forum! I'm not ordnance savy, some of the other guys are, so we'll see what we can come up with once you get your pictures up. Looking forward to the pictures. Trey
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[abc1959]

Here is the suspect fuse. I have rendered the stamps as well as I can.

Alan Courtney
MM1(SS)
'77-'83
Lexington, SC

[abc1959]

The safety keeps the ring around the four pie-shaped pieces from coming out.

Alan

[Edokko]

That is a Type 88 fuse for howizters and mortar rounds. It is a fairly common variation, but unfortunately it is not a bomb fuse and would be very difficult to connect to a Pearl Harbor attack provenance.

[abc1959]

Then the wire ring and safety pin was ordinarily pulled prior to the shot? Could we then assume that an untrained mortorman/infantryman or artilliary man or possibly someone in a hurry forgot to pull the ring? With the deformation of the aluminum in the tip, I have to believe it was actually expended in an agressive manner though unsuccessfully?

I guess it was too much of a stretch to relate it to the PH attacks. Wishful thinking. But you can see how I got there... It seems kinda small for a piece of airborn ordinance.

Is this a common artifact?

Thanks!
Alan Courtney
MM1(SS)
'77-'83

[BC312]

If it was a bomb fuze it would have obviously be of Navy origin as it would have came from a carrier to PH. Most Japanese aircraft bomb fuzes are vanned. These vanes spins in flight while descending to arm the fuze, obviously fixed during the journey to the target.
There are two categories of bomb fuze, Army and Navy. Both are not interchangeable ie you can't use Army bomb fuzes in Navy bombs, visa versa. Army bomb fuzes have holes in the arming vanes and the safety pins are fitted over the top of the vane into the top of the fuze. Navy fuzes have no holes in the vanes and the safety pins are fitted at the side of the fuze.
As well as nose fuzes there are tail fuses to arm the bomb and set it of on impact or after a delay or before hitting the ground. Both can be used to arm the bomb. I suspect that a tail fuze would survive an explosion better than a nose fuse. So if you were looking for the perfect PH find, a tail fuze would likly be the one.
I sure some of the guys here on the forum have such fuzes in their collection to post a picture. Unfortunately i don't have a scanner at the moment to show you the different types produced.

[Edokko]

Alan, that T-88 fuse is a fairly common fuse and was brought back by many GIs from Japan and from the fields. The dent on the tip aluminum striker is probably due to someone dropping the fuse or the round with the fuse on the ground. If the whole projectile was shot out of a mortar or howitzer even with the safety pin unreleased, the impact would have smashed the fuse quite considerably.

[Danmaz]

Hello,
I'm new to these boards and I'm trying to find out some information about a piece I found while a child in Hawaii. I found this while exploring the hills above our house in Hawaii. We lived in Kaneohe at the base of the Koolau mountain range. Can anyone give me any information about this piece? The place where I found it also contained a lot of spent rifle bullets of varying sizes but sadly I only have one of these spent bullets left after all of these years. Any help identifying this piece would be greatly appreciated. Aside from the Japanese writing of "8" or "88" there is also Japanese writing around the base that is VERY small and difficult to make out.
Thanks











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[gwsiii]

The markings are 8 - 8 Type, that is really neat! Thanks for posting. I'll see if I can't get someone that knows a little more about ordnance to drop in and comment. Trey
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[Danmaz]

Thanks a bunch Trey. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. For the life of me I still can't figure out what this piece as well as the spent bullets were doing on that mountain range.

[Bushido101]

That last one look's a good bit like a Type 89 Knee Motar fuse

[gwsiii]

I was waiting on someone more knowledgeable to comment, sent a few emails, in the meantime I'd almost guess that it was probably souvenirs/contraband that were destroyed. The bullets don't look like they were fired and really hit anything. That's just an uninformed guess though. Still pretty neat.

On a side note, can you imagine what someone digging around on Blevins moutain will think of all the 'leavings' up there in 100 years.....
_________________
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Fill out a Japanese Rifle Datasheet.
I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[Bushido101]

The Marking is Type 88. Here is one in a little better condition.

[Danmaz]

Thanks Bushido for the pic! It wouldn't surprise me if this piece was confiscated from Marines returning from the Pacific campaign. There was and I'm not sure if there still is a Marine base in Kaneohe Bay during the war and even up through my childhood. However, I'm not sure how the confiscated materials would have ended up halfway up the side of the mountain range. The development that I lived in was started in the late 1960's with our house being built in 1975. There were certainly no paved roads and I never saw any dirt roads leading to where I found these items. Also, if this is a type 88 mortar fuse that was blown up with other contraband I wouldn't think it would be so damaged at the top AND the bottom. I'm obviously no expert in this but it sure looks as if it has been detonated by contact? Would you guys agree? Would it be possible for captured Japanese armaments to be tested/fired to see the effectiveness/reliability of their equipment early on in the war? Just a thought. Thanks again for any input you guys may have.