Sunday 14 June 2015

Mitsubishi G3M "Soyokaze"

Three photos today from a vintage publication of the transport Mitsubishi G3M "Nell" named "Soyokaze" (Breeze), registered J-BEOA. On April 9, 1939 took off from Tokyo's Haneda airport reaching Tehran on April 15 after brief stops at Taipei, Guangdong (Canton), Bangkok, Kolkata (Calcutta), Karachi, Basra and Baghdad. Pilot was Matsui Shogo and passengers included Minister of Communications Okubo Takeo, LCDR Eguchi Hozumi and diplomat (at the time, after the war ambassador to the UN) Tsuruoka Senjin and an (unnamed) official from Dai Nippon Koku. The occasion was the (second) wedding ceremony of the Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (later Shah of Iran) and Egyptian princess Fawzia Fuad that took place in the Marble Palace on April 25, 1939. On that day "Soyokaze" flew in formation above the palace escorted by Iranian aircraft followed by Italian, Turkish and aircraft from other countries.
On May 27 "Soyokaze" returned to Japan by the same route.

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