Warplanes of Japan: Yokosuka

Yokusuka Warplanes

(IJNAF Photo)

Yokosuka B4Y.

The Yokosuka B4Y (Navy Type 96 Carrier Attack Bomber) was a carrier-borne torpedo bomber used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1936 to 1943. The B4Y replaced the Mitsubishi B2M2 and the Yokosuka B3Y, and was the last biplane bomber used operationally by the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Allied reporting name was "Jean". (Wikipedia)

 (IJNAF Photos)

Yokosuka B4Y (Navy Type 96 Carrier Attack Bomber), carrier torpedo bomber (Jean).

Yokosuka/Kugisho D4Y2 Susei (Comet) Navy Type 2 Carrier Reconnaissance Plane Model 33 (Judy).

The Yokosuka D4Y Suisei (彗星, Suisei, "Comet"; Allied reporting name "Judy") is a two-seat carrier-based dive bomber developed by the Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1942 to 1945 during the Second World War. Development of the aircraft began in 1938. The first D4Y1 was complete in November 1940 and made its maiden flight at Yokosuka the following month.

While the aircraft was originally conceived as a dive bomber, the D4Y was used in other roles including reconnaissance, night fighter and special attack (kamikaze). It made its combat debut as a reconnaissance aircraft when two pre-production D4Y1-Cs embarked aboard the Sōryū to take part in the Battle of Midway in 1942. It was not until March 1943 that it was accepted for use as a dive bomber. The early D4Y1 and D4Y2 featured the liquid-cooled Aichi Atsuta engine, a licensed version of the German Daimler-Benz DB 601, while the later D4Y3 and D4Y4 featured the Mitsubishi MK8P Kinsei radial engine.Like many other Japanese aircraft of the time, the D4Y lacked armour and self-sealing fuel tanks and it was not until the final variant, the D4Y4, that the aircraft was given bulletproof glass and armor protection for the crew and fuel tanks.

The D4Y was one of the fastest dive bombers of the war, particularly the D4Y4. Max Gadney said was the "fastest dive-bomber of the Second World War" and that it was "faster than the Zero". Only the delays in its development hindered its service while its predecessor, the slower fixed-gear Aichi D3A, remained in service much longer than intended. In October 1944, an attack by a lone D4Y resulted in the sinking of light carrier USS Princeton in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Similarly in March 1945, a single D4Y managed to hit the carrier USS Franklin with two bombs, nearly sinking Franklin and resulting in the loss of almost 800 of her crew. A D4Y was used in one of the final kamikaze attacks in 1945, hours after the surrender of Japan, with Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki in the rear cockpit. (Wikipedia)

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(IJAAF Photos)

Yokosuka/Kugisho D4Y2 Susei (Comet) Navy Type 2 Carrier Reconnaissance Plane Model 33 (Judy).

(USN Photo)

Yokosuka/Kugisho D4Y2 Susei (Comet) Navy Type 2 Carrier Reconnaissance Plane Model 33, codenamed Judy, in USAAF markings.

Yokosuka/Kugisho D4Y2 Susei (Comet) Navy Type 2 Carrier Reconnaissance Plane Model 33, codenamed Judy, (Serial No. 3957), captured at Clark Field in the Philippines, in TAIC-SWPA S16, USAAF markings..  It was flight tested at NAS Anticosti post war.  (USN Photos)

Yokosuka D4Y4 Susei (Serial No. unknown), one of two Kugisho-built D4Y4s shipped to the USA.  This aircraft was designated USAAF FE-1201.  It was scrapped at Middletown, Pennsylvania.  It was one of two Kugisho-built D4Y4s shipped to the USA.  This aircraft was designated USAAF FE-1203.  It was scrapped at Park Ridge ca. 1950. (USAAF Photos)

The Yokosuka D4Y Suisei (Comet) Navy Carrier Dive bomber codenamed "Judy" was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy.  The D4Y was one of the fastest dive-bombers of the war.  A surviving restored D4Y1 (Serial No. 4316) is located at the Yasukuni Jinja Yushukan shrine in Tokyo.  A second example, an engineless D4Y1 (Serial No. 7483) was recovered from Babo Airfield, Indonesia in 1991 and as of 2012 has been restored/rebuilt by the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino, California to non-flying (but taxiable) condition as a D4Y3.  The installed radial engine is American.

(Chirokostage Photo)

(YJY Photo)

Yokosuka D4Y1 Susei (Serial No. 4316) on display in the Yasukuni Jinja Yushikan shrine in Tokyo.

(PoF Photo)

(Alan Wilson Photo)

(Dustin May Photo)

(Howard Shen Photo)

(Goshimini Photo)

Yokosuka D4Y Suisei (Serial No. 7483) Navy Carrier Dive bomber, Planes of Fame Museum, Chino, California.

(IJNAF Photos)

The Yokosuka P1Y Ginga (銀河, "Galaxy") is a twin-engine, land-based bomber developed for the Japanese Imperial Navy in the Second World War. It was the successor to the Mitsubishi G4M and given the Allied reporting name "Frances". The P1Y was designed by the Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal to Navy specification 15-Shi, calling for a fast bomber with speed matching the Zero, range matching the G4M, a 907 kg (2,000 lb) bombload, and the ability to dive-bomb as well as carry torpedoes. As the result, the construction suffered from excess complexity, difficulty of manufacture, and poor serviceability. Problems with the availability of enough reliable Nakajima Homare engines led to their replacement by the Mitsubishi Kasei in the P1Y2-S night-fighter version.

The first flight was in August 1943. Nakajima manufactured 1,002 examples, which were operated by five Kōkūtai (Air Groups), and acted as land-based medium and torpedo bombers from airfields in China, Taiwan, the Mariana Islands, the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands, Shikoku, and Kyūshū. During the last stages of the war the P1Y was used as a kamikaze aircraft against the United States Navy during the Okinawa Campaign in Operation Tan No. 2. A night fighter version, the P1Y2-S Kyokko (極光, "Aurora"), with Mitsubishi Kasei engines, was equipped with radar and Schräge Musik-style upward-firing as well as forward-firing 20 mm cannon. A total of 96 were produced by Kawanishi,[5] but due to inadequate high-altitude performance against the B-29 Superfortress, many were converted back to Ginga bombers. (Wikipedia)

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(IJNAF Photos)

Yokosuka P1Y Ginga twin-engined land based bomber, codenamed Frances, developed for the IJNAF.

(USN Photo)

A P1Y1 in flames after being hit by anti-aircraft fire during its Kamikaze attack on 15 December 1944, likely during the Battle of Ormac Bay in the Phillipines. FM-2 Wildcat fighters on the deck of the escort carrier USS Ommany Bay are in the foreground.

(IJNAF Photos)

(Official USN Photos, located at the US National Archives, 80-G-344092)

Yokosuka P1Y2-S Ginga night fighter version of the Frances, equipped with radar and 20-mm slanted upward firing Schräge Musik style cannon. Kisarazu Naval Air Base near Tokyo, late 1945.

(USAAF Photos)

Yokosuka P1Y-1 Ginga in USAAF markings, one of three brought to the USA.  FE-1700 and FE-1701 were scrapped at Newark, New Jersey.  FE-1702 is in storage at the NASM.

(USAAF Photo)

Yokosuka P1Y-1 Ginga, FE-1702.  This aircraft is in storage with the NASM.

(Aviation of Japan Photo)

Two Yokosuka P1Y-1 Ginga (銀河 - Milky Way or Galaxy) and a Zero in Republic of China Air Force (RoCAF) markings, on a Formosan airfield c1948.

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka (Cherry Blossom) Model 11, codenamed Baka purpose-built, rocket powered human-guided anti-shipping kamakaze attack plane.  This one is on Okinawa being examined by American servicemen in 1945.  (US Army Photos)

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka (Cherry Blossom) Model 11, codenamed Baka, I-18 was captured by US forces at Yontan Airfield on Okinawa on 1 April 1945 and was subsequently transported to the United States for public display during War Bond drives.  It it is currently owned by the Planes of Fame Air Museum and on public display at the Museum's site in Chino, California.  (US Army Photos)

(Goshimini Photo)

(Alan Wilson Photo)

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka (Cherry Blossom) Model 11, codenamed Baka, I-18 was captured by US forces at Yontan Airfield on Okinawa on 1 April 1945, on dsiplay in the Planes of Fame Air Museum Chino, California.

The Yokosuka MXY-7 Navy Suicide Attacker Ohka was a manned flying bomb that was usually carried underneath a Mistsubish G4Me Model 24J bomber, codenamed Betty to within range of its target; on release, the pilot would first glide towards the target and when close enough he would fire the Ohka's three solid-fuel rockets one at a time or in unison, and fly the missile towards the ship that he intended to destroy.  The only variant which saw service was the Model 11, and it was powered by three Type 4 Mark 1 Model 20 rockets. 155 Ohka Model 11s were built at Yokosuka, and another 600 were built.  The final approach was almost unstoppable because the aircraft gained high speed (650 km/h (400 mph) in level flight and 930 km/h (580 mph) or even 1,000 km/h (620 mph) in a dive.  (IJAAF Photo)

 (Josephus37 Photo)

Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka, I-16, Kawaguchiko Motor Museum, Yamanashi prefecture, Japan.

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka Model 11, on display in the Yushukan War Museum within the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo., and another at Iruma AFB, Iruma, Saitama.

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka Model 11, on display at Iruma AFB, Iruma, Saitama.

Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka Model 11, on display in the Indian Air Force Museum, Palam, New Delhi, India.  (Siamlawma Photo)

(Shiori Photo)

(Roland Turner Photo)

(Steve Bowen Photo)

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka Model 11 on display in the RAF Museum, Cosford, England.   Ohka (Serial No. I-130, was captured on 1 April 1945 at Yontan, Okinawa, Japan.

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka Model 11 is on display in the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton, Somerset.

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka Model 11 on display in the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester, England.  (Hohum Photo)

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka Model 11 is stored with the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambridgeshire.  (Alan Wilson Photo)

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka Model 11 is on display in the Marine Corps Air-Ground Museum, Quantico, Virginia.

  (US Army Photo)

(Skytamer Photo)

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka Model 11 is (Serial No. I-10) captured at Okinawa in 1945 is now in the Yanks Air Museum, Chino, California.

(NMUSAF Photo)

(, Goshimini Photo)

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka (rebuilt from a K-1 to look like a Model 11), preserved in the National Museum of the USAF, Dayton, Ohio.

Yokosuka MXY7-K1 trainer, on display in the US Navy Museum, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C.  (PaulTTS Photo)

(Jaret Tuszynski Photos)

(Ad Meskens Photo)

Yokosuka MXY-7 Model 22 is is on display in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, Virginia.

(USN Photo)

MXY7 K-1 Kai Two-seat trainer powered by a single Type 4 Mk I Model 20 rocket motor and fitted with flaps and landing skis; 2 built at Yokosuka. These are the two being inspected by Navy personnel. Note the landing skid.

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