Visit to Pelelieu

[xwraith]

The object in post #49:

Is that a radial aircraft engine? Looks kinda like a twin wasp...

[wdolson]

It does look like a radial engine, but the shaft appears to be attached to something other than a propeller.  Maybe it was part of some ad hoc generator or something?

Bill

[Reg]

That looks like a variable pitch mechanism for a four bladed propeller. The cylindrical objects are the hydraulic actuators. Normally you would not see this mechanism under an aerodynamic spinner.

This design appears to be Japanese as the American Hamilton-Standard Hydromatic mechanism is all contained within the hub itself and does not have the external actuators. There were a few Japanese engines around by 1944 that drove four bladed props.

I managed to dig up a picture of an early Nell (without spinner) that shows the cylindrical hydraulic actuator on the hub in front of the blades. I assume the later Japanese four bladed propellers used the same technology under the spinner.

[MichaelU]

Could have done with some of you guys along on the trip. We were looking at all this rusted stuff and wondering what the hell it is.

[MichaelU]

An entrance to 1000-men cave. This is the part that freaked me out, as you'll see from the following pictures. How the hell anyone could live under those sort of conditions without going nuts is beyond. I think the last Japanese surrendered in 1947, which is just crazy.

[MichaelU]

It would probably help if I wasn't 6'4", because it gets pretty low in places.

[MichaelU]

Lots of stuff still lying around in the caves, it's all over the place. Lots and lots of bottles. I imagine copious quantities of sake was one way of coping with the hell of it all.

[MichaelU]

After the caves we headed off to the Umurbrogol mountains, where we got to see this bad boy on the way.

[MichaelU]

As we started the climb, we ran into this. Would have been an unpleasant surprise if it had still been operating.

[MichaelU]

Couldn't work out if this was spider hole or just a natural hole in the ground. It was perfectly positioned to support a couple of gun emplacements. There's no soft ground up here, this is all hacked out of nasty sharp coral rock. I'm sure it was the least of their problems, but there must have been a lot of skinned knees and elbows among the marines.

[MichaelU]

As you can imagine, we stuck pretty closely to the marked trail after seeing this sign. We met one of the guys who had worked on clearing the trail.

[MichaelU]

Here's some used ordnance lying around.

[MichaelU]

A memorial at the spot where Nakagawa finally topped himself. Getting here from the base is about a 10-15 minute walk, but when you see the amazingly bad terrain pockmarked with caves and gun emplacements, you can see why it took the marines quite so long.

[MichaelU]

Here's the view looking north up Orange beach.

[MichaelU]

And this bunker has a beautiful view south down White beach.

[MichaelU]

Ah, after a hard day tramping through WW2 battlefields, a man needs some time off to reflect.

Show this picture to the wife/girlfriend if trying to persuade that a visit to Pelelieu is a great idea. It's called Carp Island resort, and it's on a neighbouring island.

[KenchiSulla]

Amazing pictures, thank you for taking the time and sharing!

[BigDuke66]

Yes thanks for sharing.

[mikkey]

nice pictures, thanks for sharing

[DD696]

One picture is worth 40,000 plus posts by Terminus!!

Thanks so much!