Aichi D3A1 dive bombers prepare to take off from a Japanese aircraft carrier during the morning of 7 December 1941 to attack Pearl Harbor.Aichi D3A1 taking off from the carrier Akagi during the Indian Ocean Raid.Aichi D3A1s from the carrier Shōkaku during the Battle of the Coral Sea.Aichi D3A1 of 33rd Air Group over eastern Java in early summer 1942.Aichi D3A1s from Shōkaku return to their carrier after attacking the U.S. carrier Enterprise during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in August 1942.Aichi D3A2 during maintenance. Note the propeller spinner that is missing from the D3A1s in the previous photos.Aichi D3A2 with a telescopic sight, before takeoff.
In mid-1936, the Japanese Navy issued the 11-Shi specification for a monoplane carrier-based dive bomber to replace the existing D1Abiplane then in service.[1]Aichi, Nakajima, and Mitsubishi all submitted designs, with the former two subsequently being asked for two prototypes each.
The Aichi design started with low-mounted elliptical wings inspired by the Heinkel He 70Blitz. It flew slowly enough that the drag from the landing gear was not a serious issue, so the fixed gear was used for simplicity.[5] The aircraft was to be powered by the 529kW (709hp)Nakajima Hikari 1 nine-cylinder radial engine.
The first prototype was completed in December 1937, and flight trials began a month later, after which it was designated as D3A1. Initial tests were disappointing. The aircraft was underpowered and suffered from directional instability in wide turns, and in tighter turns it tended to snap roll. The dive brakes vibrated heavily when extended at their design speed of 200 knots (370km/h), and the Navy was already asking for a faster diving speed of 240 knots (440km/h)[6][7]
The second aircraft was extensively modified before delivery to try to address the problems. Power was increased by replacing the Hikari with the 626kW (839hp)Mitsubishi Kinsei 3 in a redesigned cowling, and the vertical tail was enlarged to help with the directional instability. The wings were slightly larger in span and the outer sections of the leading edges had wash-out to combat the snap rolls, and strengthened dive brakes were fitted. These changes cured all of the problems except the directional instability, and it was enough for the D3A1 to win over the Nakajima D3N1.[8][7]
In December 1939, the Navy ordered the aircraft as the Navy Type 99 Carrier Bomber Model 11 (kanjō bakugekiki, usually abbreviated to 艦爆 kanbaku.[9]). The production models featured slightly smaller wings and increased power in the form of the 746kW (1,000hp) Kinsei 43 or 798kW (1,070hp) Kinsei 44. The directional instability problem was finally cured with the fitting of a long dorsal fin-strake which started midway down the rear fuselage, and the aircraft actually became highly maneuverable.[10][7]
In June 1942, an improved version of D3A1, powered by a 969kW (1,299hp) Kinsei 54, was tested and designated as D3A2 or the Model 12. The extra power reduced range, so the design was further modified with additional fuel tanks to bring the total tankage to 900L (240USgal), giving it the range needed to fight effectively over the Solomon Islands. Known to the Navy as the Model 22, it began to replace the Model 11 in front-line units in the autumn of 1942, and most Model 11s were then sent to training units. While some late production models of D3A1 were fitted with a propeller spinner, it became a standard with D3A2.[7]
Equipment
The pilot position was equipped with a Type 95 telescopic gunsight in the earlier models and a Type 99 in the later models, which were used for aiming the bomb during the dive. The observer/navigator position was equipped with a Type 97 Mk1 drift sight, which was a long vertical tube located in the front-left of the observer's seat. In addition, the observer position was equipped with a drift meter that was mounted on the floor in the front-right of the observer's seat. The observer also operated a Type 96 Mk2 radio set that was mounted in front of the observer's seat and behind the pilot's seat. On top of the radio set was a Type 3 reflectorcompass for precise navigation.[11]
Armament was two fixed forward-firing 7.7mm (0.303in)Type 97 machine guns, and one flexible 7.7mm (.303in) Type 92 machine gun at the rear end of cockpit, which was operated by the observer. Normal bomb load was a single 250kg bomb (e.g., Type 99 No 25semi-AP or Type 98 No 25 land bomb) carried under the fuselage, swung out under the propeller on release by a trapeze. Two additional 60kg bombs (e.g., Type 99 No 6 semi-AP or Type 2 No 6 land bomb) could be carried on wing racks located under each wing outboard of the dive brakes.[7][12]
Initially, D3A dive bombers were painted in silver. During the summer of 1941, the paint finish changed to light olive grey. The color changed again in early 1942 to dark green.[7]
Operational history
An individual D3A dive bomber was commanded by the senior ranking crew member aboard, which could be the observer rather than the pilot.[7] This was in contrast to US Navy, where the pilot was almost always the commander of a dive bomber. For example, Petty Officer First ClassKiyoto Furuta was serving as a pilot to Lieutenant Takehiko Chihaya during the Attack on Pearl Harbor,[7] and later on to Lieutenant Keiichi Arima during the two carrier battles of the Solomon Islands campaign,[13] both of whom were observers.
The D3A1 first saw combat operation in November 1939, one month prior to its official acceptance as the Navy Type 99 dive bomber. Nakajima sent several examples to the 14th Air group operating at Haikou on Hainan island in South China. These D3A1s were commanded by LieutenantSadamu Takahashi and supported the Imperial Japanese Army in the capture of Nanning, which was intended to cut the supplies coming from French Indochina. After the capture of Nanning, they continued to be operated in the area in 1940. In May 1940, 12th Air Group became the second front-line unit to be equipped with the new D3A1 dive bombers. They first participated in the capture of Yichang and conducted anti-shipping operations on Yangtze river, west of Yichang, in order to cut the Chinese supplies coming from Chongqing. In September, D3A1 from the 12th Air Group started to fly missions against Chongqing, which was the Chinese capital at the time. After the invasion of Indochina in autumn 1940, 14th Air Group operated at Hanoi and flew missions against Kunming and Burma Road.[7]
The D3A1 commenced carrier qualification trials aboard the aircraft carriersAkagi and Kaga during 1940, while a small number of aircraft made their combat debut from land bases over China.[10] Starting with the attack on Pearl Harbor, the D3A1 took part in all major Japanese carrier operations in the first 10 months of the war. They achieved their first major success against the Royal Navy during their Indian Ocean raid in April 1942. D3A1 dive bombers scored over 80% hits[14] with their bombs during attacks on two heavy cruisers and an aircraft carrier during the operation.
Before the Indian Ocean raid, the established doctrine regarding attacks against ships was to arm all D3A1 dive bombers with semi-AP bombs. On 5 April 1942, an IJN carrier force attacked Colombo on Ceylon with half of its complement, while the other half was kept in reserve for strikes against ships. Since a second strike against Colombo was deemed necessary, the dive bombers of the reserve force were rearmed from semi-AP bombs to land bombs. When British heavy cruisers were spotted soon afterwards, the reserve force was sent with a portion of D3A1 dive bombers armed with land bombs. In the subsequent attack, land bombs unintentionally proved very effective in suppressing the anti-aircraft fire from the ships. As a result, the doctrine was modified in order to intentionally equip the first few D3A1 dive bombers with land bombs. This new method was already implemented for the attack that sank HMSHermes just four days later, and continued to be used from then on.[7]
During the course of the war, D3A dive bombers often combined their attacks upon enemy warships with the IJN Nakajima B5NKate torpedo bomber; consequently enemy vessels were often sunk by a combination strike of bombs and torpedoes. However, there were occasions when just the D3A's would make the attacks, or at least score the sinking hits. Discounting the Pearl Harbor strike, which also used the B5N for level bombing and torpedo attacks, D3A dive bombers were credited with sinking the following Allied warships (partial list):[18][19]
As the war progressed, there were instances when the dive bombers were pressed into duty as fighters in the interceptor role, their maneuverability being enough to allow them to survive in this role.[23] When the Yokosuka D4YSuisei became available, the D3A2s ended up with land-based units or operating from the smaller carriers, which were too small to handle the fast-landing Suisei. When American forces recaptured the Philippines in 1944, land-based D3A2s took part in the fighting, but were hopelessly outdated and losses were heavy. By then, many D3A1s and D3A2s were operated by training units in Japan, and several were modified with dual controls as Navy Type 99 Bomber Trainer Model 12s (D3A2-K). During the last year of the war, the D3A2s were pressed back into combat for kamikaze missions.[24]
↑ Note: This code name was applied mid-to-late 1943; more often the D3A was referred to as the "Type 99 navy dive bomber" by Allied forces.
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