Quaker Jake
It wasn’t just the “combat con artists” of the Ghost Army that put excellent work into tactical deception. Check out this bad boy, some 80 years ago this week, a great mock-up of an Aichi E13A (Allied reporting name: “Jake”), or possibly a later E16 Paul.
Official period caption: Balikpapan “Operation July 1-31, 1945-A Japanese decoy seaplane on a seaplane ramp in Balikpapan Harbor. There were two of these planes made out of wood and palm mats. 5 July 1945.”
(U.S. Air Force Number 63174AC)
You know, you just know, that some unit disassembled this thing and took it back to their camp until they went back home. Then, perhaps, it made it back to the States or Australia as unit cargo, only to go on to a second life in someone’s man cave.