What's new

Translation needed

michael ross

Registered
3 Sep 2018
14
1
13
1st of happy holidays to all. I was given this cool box any translation of it would be much appreciated
 

Attachments

  • 20191225_095541.jpg
    20191225_095541.jpg
    547.4 KB · Views: 135
  • 20191225_095558.jpg
    20191225_095558.jpg
    615.2 KB · Views: 188
  • 20191225_095617.jpg
    20191225_095617.jpg
    706.3 KB · Views: 139
With just a quick look, it appears to be case for 5 persons worth of "99 caliber" ammo for naval aviators. I'm sure that's not actually .99 cal in western units, but presumably some other measurement that was being used that time. Google turns up a ton of images for 99式 weapons that appear to be some pretty serious rifles.


I expect it's an ammo box for those rifles.

Also, the right-most text appears to say it was made in January of 19th year of the Showa reign, unless the scuffing is misleading me about the date specified.
 
The first image is really hard to read, I wonder if we could get another shot that didn't use flash and had less glare or at least the glare at a different angle so that the unreadable parts might be readable.

Some kind of tracking label that is supposed to be updated from time to time, it seems.
? after a character indicates uncertainty about being correct, (?) indicates a character that is definitely there but that is not recognized or not legible.

九九式特種弾頭發火 歩? (?) 一 (?)
Model 99 Special Warhead Ignition ( ? )

注文番(?) (presumably 'delivery address' although I don't recognize the last character. The address itself is illegible.)
製造年月日 昭和19年1月 Date of manufacture: Showa 19, January
製造一員番號 Manufacturing Individual's Number (filled in with only a slash mark)
修理年月日 Maintenance Date (not filled in)
改造年月日 Revision Date (not filled in)
検査年月日 Inspection Date: Showa 19 (first character is an older form of 'ken', and the date may have been more specific but if so that part is illegible)
製造所名:海軍航? 技術 Manufacturing Location: Naval Aviation Engineering (Some of the characters are illegible but they are consistent with the phrase 海軍航空技術 that we see in the other images)

(?) (?) 修理製造検査ノ外ハ (? ?) カラズ : some kind of instruction, it seems, but what is being instructed isn't legible anymore. "Aside from inspection, manufacturing, maintenance and (???), ..."


Anyway, all that put together, I think it's not ammo for the Type 99 rifle after all, but rather the Type 99 plane. Especially since is specifically designated as warhead ignition, not just "ammunition". Also this would be more consistent with what naval aviators would be likely to use.

The line talking about warhead ignition isn't completely legible, so I'm not really sure if the box contained ignition switches, some part of an ignition switch, warheads complete with ignition switch..... or something else that would include the phrase 'warhead ignition' in its name.

 
thanks Iove this stuff amazing something from 1944 is still around and wasnt turned into fire wood. Thanks again mike
 

When "ignition" is there, maybe/possibly cannon shells (on aircraft)? Tho the wikipedia list there doesn't show anything with a "99" model/type name, nor with a .99 caliber/1 inch size.

Or how about this: 九九式八糎高射砲 - Wikipedia
The Mitsubishi Ki-51 (= Type 99) was a bomber. Since the smallest bombs it took were 200kg, if the box isn't huge it wouldn't hold a complete bomb. Those would require ignition components.

That said, the gun you link to existed at the right time, but appears to have been used by the army, not by the navy. (From skimming the article, that's what I see. It's a little too technically dense for me to read in detail right now.)

I'll take a closer look at the other pictures tomorrow and see if anything else comes up.

Someone very familiar with the language of the period might be able to even make out more than I have as some of the characters I can't recognize are *almost* legible but not clear enough for me to look up by their strokes.
 
九九式特殊弾頭発火装置二型 refers to a fuze of bomb (a long delay fuze). See "C-1(a) Type 99 special bomb fuze" in the following wikipedia page.

ああ、なるほど。 Now that you say it, it seems obvious. If you have a box of "ignition devices" (which presumably always means fuses and/or detonators), you wouldn't label the box with the type of plane or cannon they are used on, but rather the type of explosive they are used on. I guess none of us thought that through, certainly not me!

いい勉強になりました。 ありがとうございました。
 
Back
Top Bottom