Growing up I saw a few US-1s—mostly at airshows, where I guess they made an impression. I didn’t know they’d been replaced and I would like to note my appreciation for three things:
- Japan is still constructing new purpose-built “air-sea rescue amphibians,” which sounds like something the Thunderbirds would own, except that
- In the year of our lord 2023Reiwa 5 they still appear designed for the highly specific air-sea rescue scenario of “shot down by Don Karnage,” and
- The “number built” presumably means that there is still one more to be produced, but is phrased as if the JMSDF only ordered one, and then when the delivery came they were kind of scratching their heads like “...hey guys this box is kinda big for just one plane, right?”
...
Also,
- Flying boats are so dreamy
