Pilots of the Japanese Imperial Navy are ready to take off with their Yokosuka P1Y "Ginga" bomber (code name known by the Allies as "Francis"), from an airfield on the Mariana Islands.
The Yokosuka P1Y Ginga was a twin-engine, land-based bomber developed for the Japanese Imperial Navy in World War II.

Code name "Francis"

The "Lily", in some respects, was a somewhat backward-looking aircraft.  Among its less advanced features were the open cockpit for the rear-firing dorsal machine-gunner and, here, the open "drop-down hatch" arrangement accommodating the ventral gunner.  Presumably, this hatch had to remain open for the duration of any flight or part of a flight in which a threat from enemy fighters existed.  I cannot say that I would have envied the gunners ... JR.

Keep hanging on - Kawasaki K-48 ventral gunner.

Japanese soldiers on the march near the Chinese city of Tianjin.