WesWorld

(Looked back at the earlier para jump story and thought I could improve it a bit by using a few more lines from one of my favorite scenes from the British comedy series "Allo, Allo"...)

January 6, 1943

Another month and another new batch of rookie jumpers. Captain Kawasaki, who always accompanied and assisted Colonel Kimi Killgore, opened the door so the trainees could see what lay ahead of them.

"Colonel, it's a long way down!" Trainee 6 shouted over the engine noise

"Of course it's a long way down! You're in an airplane!" Kimi shouted back, smacking him on the head.

"Where do we land?!" Trainee 11 asked. "I don't see the aerodrome!"

"Who said anything about an aerodrome?! Did Kimi ever mention an aerodrome?!"

"Then how do we land?!"

"Kimi already told you the procedure during the briefing!!"

"... I was in the bathroom then..."

"Step One: you jump out! Step Two: You pull the string! Step Three: You float down! Step Four: You hit the gound!"

"Somehow I don't like the sound of Step four now that we are here!" Trainee 4 told.

"Whatever! Just make sure that don't soil your pants on the way down. Also make sure that you are in one piece after step four, otherwise Kimi's going to break all the remaining bones in your body that aren't broken!"

"Yes, Colonel!" all the trainees said in unison.

"And make sure to scream for your mommy should the parachute fail! Kimi needs to know where to go to in order to scrape your remains from the Kyushu landscape!"

There was an explosion somewhere below the plane and to the right which caused the trainees to back away from the door immediately.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Anti-Aircraft fire from the ground of course! What else could it be?!"

"What?!? You're telling us that someone is shooting at us?!?"

"Yes! Old man Satake got pissed about para trainees ending up in his fields every time! Last year, he sent a request for an anti-aircraft gun which was granted! So every time we are flying here, he starts shooting at us with that gun of his!"

There was another explosion. Close enough this time to take out the outside engine on the right.

"Damn! That old fart is getting good at shooting! We'd better jump before he manages to hit us!" Without hesitation, Kimi grabbed trainee 1 and hurled him out through the door. "And don't forget to pull the string!" she shouted at the screaming and tumbling trainee.

Quickly the others followed and Kimi watched the parachutes deploy one by one. Once she was sure that all trainees had reached step 3, the colonel jumped out herself.


January 7, 1943[i]

Trainee report of yesterday's jump by Colonel Kimberly 'Kimi' Kilgore.

Casualty rate: 0%
Sadly, all trainees managed to get safely to the ground without any injuries.

Details:
Old Man Satake is getting more accurate and thus becomes more dangerous. It is only a matter of time before he takes out one of our planes. Suggest command fires the person responsible for agreeing to giving him that anti-aircraft gun.

Quoted

Originally posted by Rooijen10
"And make sure to scream for your mommy should the parachute fail! Kimi needs to know where to go to in order to scrape your remains from the Kyushu landscape!"

*Snerk* Now there's positive, encouraging leadership!

February 15, 1943
The Navy revealed that it is working on a design for a single support ship that will be able to support both carriers of the Hiyo class. No further details have been released.


February 26, 1943
A new firing range was taken into use yesterday around the island Okino Kita Iwa. A communications post was built on nearby Kita Kojima to direct the firing exercise traffic as well as an observation station on Okino Minami Iwa.



March 26, 1943
Men were hard at work at Iwo Jima in preperation of a weapons test next week. No further details were released.

Tower believed to be part of next week's test.
Picture taken by the Naval expert known as 'Ken'.


March 28, 1943[/]
The Naval expert known as 'Ken' was found dead in his Fukuoka home this morning...

... again...

Shinsengumi officials concluded that he accidently shot himself six times in the back before tripping over an onrushing car and falling off the balcony of his 5th floor home, landing in front of the 10:15 Express from Kyoto to Edo. He was dragged along by the train for several miles before he fell off a railroad bridge and into the Sumida river where he was run over by a patrolling PT boat before being attacked by a giant man-eating shark.

April 1, 1943
Iwo Jima Weapons Test Range

"Three... two... one..."

There was an explosion with a lot of dust flying around followed by a big ball of fire that engulfed the 30 meter high tower with a big whoosh.

The Shogun blinked. "... that's it?" she asked after it had fizzled out.

"Uhm... yes...?" Yoshio Nishina replied. "It's kind of... like what happened Minneapolis back in 1878... when the Washburn A Mill exploded. The right combination flour and air will cause the flour to ignite, creating this big ball of fire."

"But if that is it..." Tsugako looked around. ".. then why are we hiding in this trench and so far away?"

"Just in case it got out of hand. One can never be too careful. 14 people were killed back in 1878."

"This is not 1878 and we do not have 14 dead people here... well except for that Ken guy."

"Yes... That was an unfortunate..." Nishina looked around at the other members of his team. "... 'accident' he had."

"... and why do you really need a 30 meter high tower for that tiny little spark? I was expecting it to be vaporized, blown to dust by whatever you guys came up with."

"We can see the fireball better that way... and we want to be able to reuse the tower for all the other tests so we do not want to vaporize it or blow it to dust."

Tsugako shook her head. "Next time I'm here, I'm expecting better results. Otherwise I will put the recommendation forward to the Ministry of the Army to decrease your budget." With that, the Shogun left.

"Maybe we should have showed one of the other products," one of the assistants said behind Nishina. "Something like R-47."

Nishina shook his head. "No. It's allright. It's perhaps better this way. We still need to figure out a proper way to deliver R-47."

"What about the Hibari rocket project on Magejima?"

"Actually I was thinking of something more... controlled. It would work better if we were to use something along the line of..." Nishina turned around to face his assistant. "... a plane."



May 7, 1943
With increasing numbers of travellers, the government agreed today to a plan to improve and expand both road and rail infrastructures. Numerous roads will be widened and/or resurfaced while with the railroads new stations will be built and lines electrified.

Government experts give a figure of about 750 billion (Wesworld) Yen (~6 billion Wesworld USD) and 10 years for the project although some sceptics believe those estimations are on the low side.

Plans are being made for a team to visit Germany at the end of the year to study its National Motorways system.

Fascinating...

What aspect? The fact that someone who died a couple of months ago managed to get himself killed again?

Good that Japan's seeking motorway assistance from the Germans. It'll be good for commerce.

Quoted

Originally posted by Rooijen10
What aspect? The fact that someone who died a couple of months ago managed to get himself killed again?

There is that too. Most curious. But then, "Ken" is a common Japanese name is it not?

Quoted

Good that Japan's seeking motorway assistance from the Germans. It'll be good for commerce.

Wiki:

Quoted

in 1956 only 23% of national highways were paved, which included only two thirds of the main Tokyo-Osaka road (National Route 1).

... so I guess I have to do something about that. Historically it was done well after WW2, but for the sake of some news, I thought it would be a good idea to start work on it earlier.

The 6 billion USD figure is just a guess, but I guess that for the experts it is also a guess at this moment.

I used the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act figure of 25 billion USD for ~66,000 km of highway, converted it to 1943 with the inflation calculator and divided so I got a figure for ~10,000 km. Multiplied that by 2 and added a bit more.

Quoted

Most curious. But then, "Ken" is a common Japanese name is it not

Depending on the character used, the name means "healthy, strong", "modest," or "study.". Originally I did not have him in the 1943 news line up. Still, as mentioned in the December 1942 news, his name was changed to protect his identity so it is not his real name.

Thinking of it now, I should have used a different river that is nowhere near the Kyoto-Edo line instead of the Sumida River...

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine
Good that Japan's seeking motorway assistance from the Germans. It'll be good for commerce.

Hopefully it will be. The German construction equipment industry has many pieces of proprietary design for the laying of concrete and asphalt. Japanese credit is excellent, and orders would be happily entertained.

Nobody told me that April 1-6 was "Test Your Asian FAE Week"...

While the Chinese test is probably supposed to be something like this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf7m7hN5Szc

... the Japanese test was more like this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvPL7KC1DEA

... although the Shogun was probably expecting something along the lines of this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w6LsP3UBeM

The thing I had in mind when I originally created this bit of news was that the Japanese team was looking for a new way to set things on fire.

May 12, 1943
Yoshio Nishina slowly walked around the bomber, examining every aspect. Having sent a message to the Minister of the Army for a plane with the various details, this aircraft was the one that was sent to Iwo Jima for Nishina's purposes.

"This one will do fine," he told his assistants. "Lets get to work on it."


May 20, 1943
This morning, the Aomori-Hakodate ferry collided with a cargo ship. The collision happened in misty conditions. The ferry managed to return to Aomori under its own power, but the cargo ship had to be towed back to port. 17 people received minor injuries as a result of the collision.



June 6, 1943
"So you know what to do, captain Sugiyama?" Yoshio Nishina asked the bomber's pilot.

"Yes, sir. Take off and head south to Minami Iwo Jima. Once over the island, deploy the weapon and head back. Once back, park in the back." Sugiyama pointed into the distance where he would end up with his plane.

Nishina gave a nod. "Good luck, captain."

Captain Sugiyama joined his crew and prepared the final checks before climbed aboard his plane. Half an hour later, the bomber took off from Iwo Jima Air Base.

June 6, 1943
10:03 Northwest of Minami Iwo Jima

"Minami Iwo Jima at 10 o'clock, captain," Lieutenant Otsuka the bombardier informed. "About 10 kilometers."

"Got it," Sugiyama replied when he spotted the island to his left.

"Kind of stupid to say it now, but will this really work, sir?" Lieutenant Sano, the gunner sitting behind Sugiyama, asked.

"We'll know as soon as we deploy the weapon. If it fails or something goes wrong..." Sugiyama shrugs. "... well in that case it was nice working with you guys."

"Don't be so negative, sir. It'll only get you killed one day," Otsuka told.

"Think you will be able to hit the target?"

"A target of that size?" Otsuka looked back at Sugiyama and smiled. "Piece of cake, sir."

"Excellent. Get ready then. We're going in." Sugiyama slowly steered the plane into the direction of the island and began to descend to the plane's planned attack altitude.

June 6, 1943
Approaching Minami Iwo Jima

Having looked down at the ocean and all the waves rushing past underneath the Ki-35 for a few moments, Otsuka turned his attention to the fast approaching island and prepared himself. "Ready," he then called out. Otsuka concentrated while he peered through his bombsight. Once he got the target in sight he pressed a button. "Releasing!"

Sugiyama quickly glances to his left as he saw the top of the island's volcano shoot past the plane. When his bombadier called out that he'd reached the end of the run, Sugiyama pulled back on the controls to make his plane climb to a higher altitude and allowing Sano to make recordings of the island with his camera from the gunner's position.

"Looks like it worked," Sano said while his camera was recording the result of the attack behind the plane. "One down, three runs to go."

"Good. Let's get them done and get the hell out of here."

July 2, 1943
The young woman at the entrance desk got up and bowed. "Good morning, Sir. Welcome to the Osato Chemical & Engineering Company. How can I help you."

The officer returned the bow. "I called yesterday to make an appointment. The name is Kitano."

The woman looked through the schedule on her left and when she found the name gave a nod. "Yes, sir. You are expected." The woman picked up the phone in front of her to make a call. "Hello? Mr. Osato? General Masaji Kitano has arrived to see you... Yes.. I will tell him." She then put down the phone and smiled at Kitano. "If you have a moment, sir. Mr. Osato will be here shortly."

Kitano gave a nodd and waited. About 10 minutes later, Osato arrived.

"My appologies for the delay, General," Osato appologized. "I was in a meeting."

"No appologies needed, Mr. Osato," Kitano replied. "I can understand that you are a busy man. I am glad that you could make time to meet me."

Osato gestured to Kitano to follow. "So how can we be of assistance, General?" Osato asked as the two stepped into an elevator.

Kitano smiled. "Chemicals of course..."

"Of course..." Osato smiled back as the elevator doors closed.


August 17, 1943
Plans are being finalized for the German National Motorways system visit with the formation of a team of men who will become responsible for the construction project. The team is expected to visit Germany in the second half of December so they can make use of the opportunity to do some christmas shopping over there :-).


September 20, 1943
Japan's Antarctic whaling fleet left port today with several new ships. They're expected to reach their destination at the end of next month.


October 7, 1943
According to reports, a crisis is in progress in Monaco since yesterday. Most Japanese citizens though have no idea what a Monaco is and wonder if it is edible. Hovever, one Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy (who wishes to remain anonymous) did show some concern about the crisis and she wondered if the Monaco Incident would be a threat to her holiday trip there.

October 8, 1943
As reported yesterday, while there is a crisis going on in Monaco, most Japanese citizens have no idea what Monaco is. Having asked around, AWNR compiled a small list of some of the answers.
- A type of stinky French cheese.
- A type of shark.
- A European wine.
- A mountain in the Rocky Mountains.
- A border crossing station.
- A Mexican General.
- A Brazilian town.
- A pile of horse *beep*.
- The British Prime Minister.
- A nation in Africa.
- A building in Venice.
- A Russian farm.
- A type of desert.
- An Islamic temple.
- A product of Canadian SuperScience!™
- One of the Indonesian islands.
- Marshal Sanada's wife.

Very observant Mr. Bond... I mean Mr. ShinRa.

October 31, 1943
4. Squadron Tora celebrated its 20th aniversary today. One plane was specially painted for the occasion.

During the celebrations, Lieutenant Colonel Kato Tateo, commander of 4. Squadron, told AWNR that, if commands agrees with it, he is considering taking the plane on an anniversary tour around the world next year.

Was just in the mood today to mess around with Paint a bit. Maybe I overdid it with the stripes. Also haven't been able to properly bend text so it would fit on the emblems.

Great stuff anyway. ;o)