Using the picture below (from another
thread), I tried to solve the mistery of the unknown aircraft aboard the USS Bogue in 1945. Looking at the rudders of all the multi-engine planes of similar size, it seems to me that the only one that has a similar rudder is the Ki-74, so two of them were on the aircraft carrier....
Replaying to my own post:
According to the book "War prizes" (Phil Butler, Midland Publishing, 2000 page 247) these were the Ki-74s brought to the USA after the war (the same FE numbers reported by blackite in post #25):
Tachikawa Ki 74 'Patsy'. Army Experimental High-Altitude Long-Range Bomber. Twin-engined high-altitude long-range reconnaissance bomber. Only 16 of the type were made. Two of these aircraft were surrendered at the Tachikawa factory and two at the IJAAF Test Bureau at Fussa (Yokota). All four aircraft were included in the 10th March 1946 list.
FE-2206/T2-2206. It was in storage at Atlantic Overseas Air Materiel Center (AOAMC) Newark on 1st August 1946, but had been assigned for disposal.
FE-2207/T2-2207. It was in storage at Middletown on 1st August 1946. It was listed for transfer to the Air Museum on 18th September 1946. No further record.
FE-2208/T2-2208. It was in storage at AOAMC, Newark, on 1st August 1946, but was assigned for disposal.
FE-22091/T2-2209. It was in storage at AOAMC, Newark, on 1st August 1946, but was assigned for disposal.
A couple of notes from the same book to understand the "10th March 1946 list":
Page 161: Foreign Equipment was at first evaluated by the Foreign Equipment Unit of the Technical Staff within the Engineering Division. Later, after the formation of the Technical Data Laboratory in December 1942, came the Evaluation Branch of the Technical Data Laboratory, giving rise to the 'EB-' series of numbers. The Foreign Equipment Unit then became part of the Evaluation Branch, which was in turn one of the six branches of the Technical Data Laboratory. The Technical Data Laboratory's tasks included “Procurement, evaluation and dissemination of technical information on foreign aircraft and aeronautical equipment, particularly enemy aircraft and equipment, of technical or military interest to the Engineering Division and American manufacturers producing AAF materiel”. Later the Evaluation Branch identities were changed to 'FE-' for 'Foreign Equipment', presaging the formation of a Foreign Equipment Branch in April 1945 as one of Evaluation Branch's successor organisations (the Flight Data Branch being the other). Finally, in July 1945, came a re-organisation in which the Technical Data Laboratory became part of 'T-2 Intelligence' within the organisational structure, with other T designators indicating Personnel, Engineering, Administration and other functions. By November 1945, 'T-2' was transferred to a new Collection Division, under the command of Harold Watson, charged with the collection and assessment of equipment and technical information recovered from Germany, Japan and other sources. This Division remained in being until its task was completed in April 1947.
Page 207: FE/T2 markings. These markings were used to identify Axis aircraft evaluated by the USAAF at Wright Field and other Air Force test establishments. The logic behind the allocation of the individual aircraft identity numbers is not known. It is evident that the first main series, starting at 100, applied to single seater fighter types and that a certain commonality of type or aircraft duty applied to other series of numbers. However, neither the basic logic nor a complete list of allocations has been traced in documented form. The most complete source of the numbers is the list of “German Aircraft available for study by Industry” originally published on 10th March 1946, together with it various updates [It includes also Italian and Japanese types].
(This script was a previous "EDIT 2" part of my previous post #27, I preferred to make a new post to make the thread more readable and to have an update in the forum so others can read it)