Yokosuka D4Y 'Judy' Units

Yokosuka D4Y 'Judy' Units PDF Author: Mark Chambers
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472845013
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 97

Book Description
In 1938, the Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal, acting under the requirements issued by the Kaigun Koku Hombu for a Navy Experimental 13-Shi Carrier Borne specification for a dive-bomber to replace the venerable 'Val' aboard carriers. The resulting D4Y Suisei ('Comet'), codenamed 'Judy' by the Allies, was initially powered by a licence-built German Daimler-Benz DB 601 inline engine as used in the Bf 109E. Despite making an inauspicious combat debut during the Battle of Midway in June 1942, the 'Judy' eventually proved to be an important asset for the IJNAF during battles in the latter years of the Pacific War. Its great successes resulted in the sinking of the escort carrier USS Princeton in an early kamikaze attack of the Philippines and the near sinking of the fleet carrier USS Franklin in a dive-bombing attack off Japan. While the Judy had an impressive top-speed, like its predecessor, and many other Japanese military aircraft, it possessed design shortcomings including inadequate armour protection for its aircrew and no self-sealing fuel tanks. As a result, when pitted against new, advanced US Navy fighters suffered horrendous losses. During the final months of World War 2 it became apparent that there would be no Japanese victory. Acting out of desperation, the IJNAF employed the 'Judy' in the dreaded kamikaze role, in which it excelled due to its high-speed characteristics. Most notably, the D4Y mounted one of the last combat actions of World War 2 when a flight of 11 Judies, personally led by the instigator of the suicide attacks, Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki, took off on a 'search mission' on August 15, 1945. This volume chronicles the action-packed wartime exploits of Japan's finest dive-bomber of World War 2.

Nakajima Ki-49 ‘Helen’ Units

Nakajima Ki-49 ‘Helen’ Units PDF Author: George Eleftheriou
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472854500
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 182

Book Description
A fully illustrated study of the Nakajima Ki49 'Helen', the twin-engined bomber of the Pacific War, from Japanese aviation expert George Eleftheriou. The Nakajima Ki-49 Donryu ('Dragon Eater'), codenamed 'Helen' by the Allies, was a twin-engined Japanese bomber designed to undertake daylight attacks without the protection of escort fighters. Consequently, while it was officially known as the Army Type 100 Heavy Bomber, its formidable defensive armament and armour were so heavy that they restricted the Ki-49 to payloads comparable to those of smaller medium bombers. While only five heavy bomber sentai (regiments) were equipped with the 'Helen', the over 800 Ki-49s built between 1941 and 1944 saw extensive action in Burma, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, northern India and north Australia. In an act of desperation, a small number of 'Helens' were even employed, unsuccessfully, as kamikaze aircraft against US Navy warships operating off the Philippines and Okinawa. In this fascinating book, George Eleftheriou provides a comprehensive account of the units that saw action flying the 'Helen', based on original Japanese sources. Also featuring high-quality photographs never published before, specially commissioned colour profile artwork, official unit histories and veteran accounts, this title is a must-have for Japanese aircraft enthusiasts.

Japanese Naval Air Force Fighter Units and Their Aces, 1932–1945

Japanese Naval Air Force Fighter Units and Their Aces, 1932–1945 PDF Author: Ikuhiko Hata
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1909166782
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 651

Book Description
An extensive guide to Japan’s Naval Air Force Fighter Units and their ace pilots during conflicts in the 1930s and ‘40s, now in English. The book begins by looking at the land- and aircraft carrier-based navy fighter units and their operations from 1932 to 1945, as well as their history and achievements. This is followed with biographical details for all pilots who claimed eight or more aerial victories. The thorough appendix provides detailed listings of all pilots known to have claimed five or more victories (and thus considered to be “aces”), listings of the graduation from training of all Japanese Navy fighter pilots, and of fighter pilot casualties. Photographs, maps, and artist’s side-view drawings and paintings of aircraft relevant to each of the units are also included. This revised edition is a companion volume to Japanese Army Air Force Fighter Units and Their Aces, 1931–1945.

Supremacy at Sea

Supremacy at Sea PDF Author: Evan Mawdsley
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300255454
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407

Book Description
The gripping account of the U.S. Navy's fast carrier force--and how its Central Pacific campaign in 1944 marked the achievement of American naval supremacy Task Force 58 was World War II's most powerful battle fleet. Made up in mid-1944 of sixteen aircraft carriers, over a thousand combat aircraft, and an armada of escorts, it was vital to victory over Japan. In this compelling account, Evan Mawdsley charts the 3,500-mile dash of the "Big Blue Fleet" across the Central Pacific in the first six months of 1944, overwhelming enemy opposition and transforming the nature of naval warfare. The Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944 crushed the enemy's naval air force and secured war-winning air bases in the Mariana Islands. Mawdsley examines the elements of the rapidly assembled force--ships, planes, and 100,000 officers and men--as well as the advanced bases and fleet train that provided such astounding mobility. Task Force 58's campaign marked the achievement of naval supremacy by the United States, a status it maintains to this day.

Mitsubishi Type 1 Rikko ‘Betty’ Units of World War 2

Mitsubishi Type 1 Rikko ‘Betty’ Units of World War 2 PDF Author: Osamu Tagaya
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472800508
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234

Book Description
The most produced Japanese bomber of the war, the G4M saw action on every front from the first day of the Pacific conflict through to VJ-Day. The 'Betty's' very long range made it a key weapon during the opening year of the war. However, to achieve this, the aircraft was built with very little protective armour for its crew or fuel tanks, and Allied pilots soon exposed its extreme vulnerability. In the first in a series of volumes examining the key Japanese aircraft of WW2, Dr Osamu Tagaya details the G4M's extensive combat history, and lists all the units which operated the bomber.

Task Force 58

Task Force 58 PDF Author: Rod Macdonald
Publisher: Frontline Books
ISBN: 1399007580
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 653

Book Description
The new breed of American fast aircraft carriers could make thirty-three knots, and each carried almost 100 strike aircraft. Brought together as Task Force 58, also known as the Fast Carrier Task Force, this awesome armada at times comprised more than 100 ships carrying more than 100,000 men afloat. By 1945, more than 1,000-combat aircraft, fighters, dive- and torpedo-bombers could be launched in under an hour. The fast carriers were a revolution in naval warfare – it was a time when naval power moved away from the big guns of the battleship to air power projected at sea. Battleships were eventually subordinated to supporting and protecting the fast carriers, of which, at its peak, Task Force 58 had a total of seventeen. This book covers the birth of naval aviation, the appearance of the first modern carriers in the 1920s, through to the famous surprise six-carrier _Kido Butai_ Japanese raid against Pearl Harbor on 8 December 1941 and then the early US successes of 1942 at the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway. The fast carriers allowed America, in late 1942 and early 1943, to finally move from bitter defence against the Japanese expansionist onslaught, to mounting her own offensive to retake the Pacific. Task Force 58 swept west and north from the Solomon Islands to the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, neutralising Truk in Micronesia, and Palau in the Caroline islands, before the vital Mariana Islands operations, the Battle of Saipan, the first battle of the Philippine Sea and the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. The strikes by Task Force 58 took Allied forces across the Pacific, to the controversial Battle of Leyte Gulf and to Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Task Force 58 had opened the door to the Japanese home islands themselves – allowing US bombers to finally get close enough to launch the devastating nuclear bombing raids on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Task Force 58 participated in virtually all the US Navy’s major battles in the Pacific theatre during the last two years of the war. Having spent many years investigating naval shipwrecks across the Pacific, many the result of the devastating effectiveness of Task Force 58, diver and shipwreck author Rod Macdonald has created the most detailed account to date of the fast carrier strike force, the force that brought Japan to its knees and brought the Second World War to its crashing conclusion.

Me 210/410 Zerstörer Units

Me 210/410 Zerstörer Units PDF Author: Robert Forsyth
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472829115
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 97

Book Description
Intended as a progressive development of the twin-engined Bf 110 Zerstörer ('destroyer' or heavy fighter), the Me 210 first took to the air in September 1939. However, due to a lack of sufficient flight-testing before being declared service-ready, the Me 210 suffered from a less than satisfactory reputation in respect to its flight characteristics and weak undercarriage. After enhancements were made to the fuselage and wings, and the power of the plane was increased, the Me 210 became the Me 410 in late 1942. By this stage of the war much was expected of the two types, which were forced to fly in very dangerous skies over North Africa and in the defence of the German homeland. Both aircraft were deployed as heavy fighters, fighter-bombers, reconnaissance platforms and interceptors, seeing service with a number of different units. The Me 410 was fitted with 30 mm cannon, 21 cm underwing mortars and the colossal 5 cm BK cannon that was intended to pack a punch against the USAAF's four-engined bombers which threatened the Reich in large numbers from 1943 onwards. In this title, supported by contemporary photography and full-colour artwork, Robert Forsyth tells the complex story of the Me 210 and 410, detailing their development and assessing their capabilities as combat aircraft.

American Aces against the Kamikaze

American Aces against the Kamikaze PDF Author: Edward M. Young
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1849087466
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 96

Book Description
This illustrated history describes the clashes between the US against the hastily created Kamikaze units of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy Air Forces, some of the last large scale aerial engagements of the Pacific War. The Japanese High Command realised that the loss of Okinawa would give the Americans a base for the invasion of Japan. Its desperate response was to unleash the full force of the Special Attack Units, known in the west as the Kamikaze ('Divine Wind'). In a series of mass attacks in between April and June 1945, more than 900 Kamikaze aeroplanes were shot down. Conventional fighters and bombers accompanied the Special Attack Units as escorts, and to add their own weight to the attacks on the US fleet. In the air battles leading up to the invasion of Okinawa, as well as those that raged over the island in the three months that followed, the Japanese lost more than 7,000 aircraft both in the air and on the ground. In the course of the fighting, 67 Navy, 21 Marine, and three USAAF pilots became aces. As Edward M Young shows, in many ways it was an uneven combat and on numerous occasions following these uneven contests, American fighter pilots would return from combat having shot down up to six Japanese aeroplanes during a single mission.

Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ and B6N ‘Jill’ Units

Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ and B6N ‘Jill’ Units PDF Author: Mark Chambers
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 147281875X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 99

Book Description
Entering service during the Sino-Japanese War, the Nakajima B5N (code-named 'Kate') excelled and went on to achieve surprising and dramatic successes in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It also contributed to the sinking of the US aircraft carriers USS Lexington at the Battle of the Coral Sea, USS Yorktown at the Battle of Midway, and USS Hornet at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. Its replacement, the Nakajima B6N 'Jill', while a marked improvement over its illustrious predecessor, was never able to achieve its full potential in combat due to advances in Allied aircraft, finding itself relegated to the dreaded Kamikaze strikes in the latter part of the war. Using previously unpublished photographs as well as colour illustrations, this book will cover the history of the 'Kate' and 'Jill' torpedo/attack bombers, including their design and development, as well as the combat highs and lows of the Imperial Japanese Navy's premier torpedo-bombers.
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