Yokosuka D4Y3 Suisei
Aircraft technology accelerated so quickly during the 1930s that the Aichi D3A (codenamed "Val" by the Allies) was already approaching obsolescence by 1938. The Imperial Japanese Navy issued a requirement for a replacement that year, and Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal was awarded the contract for the D4Y Suisei (Comet).
The D4Y certainly showed promise: it was slim and fast, with plenty of room for its two man crew, and its Aichi Atsuta inline engine--based on the highly successful Daimler-Benz DB 601--gave it excellent performance in the vertical: it was actually faster than contemporary fighters in 1940, when the prototype flew, and would be the fastest dive bomber of World War II. Bombs could be carried in an internal weapons bay or on wing hardpoints, and the pilot also had a pair of machine guns in the cowl for strafing, while the navigator doubled as a gunner with a single machine gun in the rear. There were structural problems, however, and as a result the first D4Y1s did not reach the Japanese fleet until 1942, after the nation's entry into World War II. Two saw limited service as scout aircraft during the Battle of Midway, and both were lost when their carriers were sunk. By that time, the Suisei was in production to replace the D3A. It was codenamed "Judy" by the Allies.
Wartime conditions pointed up issues with the D4Y, however. The Atsuta engine was unreliable, and the IJN preferred radial engine aircraft in any case. In the D4Y3, the Atsuta was replaced with a more reliable Mitsubishi Kinsei radial engine, and this superseded the Atsuta-powered aircraft on the production line. The Kinsei gave the Suisei even better performance in the vertical, but the bigger engine made it tough to get back aboard a carrier, and reduced range. Operations in the Marianas also revealed the D4Y's biggest flaw: like most wartime Japanese aircraft, it traded protection for range, and if the Suisei was hit, its lack of crew armor and self-sealing fuel tanks usually killed the pilot and/or turned it into a torch.
As the Allies closed on Japan, the Suisei found another purpose, for which is was superbly suited: kamikaze. The D4Y's excellent dive speed made it hard to intercept, and though its flat-out speed no longer allowed it to outdistance the newer F6F Hellcat or F4U Corsair, it gave its crews a better chance than older aircraft. Suiseis were deadly against American carriers in the last year of the war: bomb-carrying D4Ys sank the USS Princeton (CVL-23) and heavily damaged the USS Franklin (CV-13); the latter was hit by two bombs that landed in a crowded hangar deck with a fully fueled and armed strike, and came very close to sinking the carrier. The Bunker Hill (CV-17) was also badly damaged by D4Y kamikazes, making it the most successful of the late-war Japanese attack aircraft. Some D4Y3s were modified as night fighters with cannon armament, but were unsuccessful, as they lacked radar with which to intercept the B-29 raids over Japan. The last kamikaze attack of the war, on 15 August 1945, was undertaken by D4Ys. A respectable 2038 Suiseis were built during the war, and two survive to this day.
This is the only D4Y outside of Japan, and one of the two survivors. License-built by Aichi as D4Y1 serial number 483, it was assigned to the 202nd Kokutai at Babo, New Guinea and saw combat against Allied forces. After Babo was knocked out by USAAF raids, 483 was abandoned at Babo. It was then forgotten, left to the jungle to reclaim, until 1991, when it was rediscovered. Jungle wrecks had been dismissed as useless except as spare parts sources (if that) when warbird restorations began in the 1950s, but by the 1990s, a combination of improved technology and the growing scarcity of warbirds meant that, while 483 was little more than a wreck, it was considered salvagable. The aircraft was brought to Planes of Fame in Chino, California, and restored using a Pratt and Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial, as a D4Y3.
This was one of the aircraft I'd promised myself was a "don't miss," and I didn't. The aircraft is in theory flyable, as the engine can be run up and the aircraft can taxi, but as 483 is one of only two surviving Suiseis, Planes of Fame understandably does not fly the aircraft.
Yokosuka D4Y3 Suisei
Aircraft technology accelerated so quickly during the 1930s that the Aichi D3A (codenamed "Val" by the Allies) was already approaching obsolescence by 1938. The Imperial Japanese Navy issued a requirement for a replacement that year, and Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal was awarded the contract for the D4Y Suisei (Comet).
The D4Y certainly showed promise: it was slim and fast, with plenty of room for its two man crew, and its Aichi Atsuta inline engine--based on the highly successful Daimler-Benz DB 601--gave it excellent performance in the vertical: it was actually faster than contemporary fighters in 1940, when the prototype flew, and would be the fastest dive bomber of World War II. Bombs could be carried in an internal weapons bay or on wing hardpoints, and the pilot also had a pair of machine guns in the cowl for strafing, while the navigator doubled as a gunner with a single machine gun in the rear. There were structural problems, however, and as a result the first D4Y1s did not reach the Japanese fleet until 1942, after the nation's entry into World War II. Two saw limited service as scout aircraft during the Battle of Midway, and both were lost when their carriers were sunk. By that time, the Suisei was in production to replace the D3A. It was codenamed "Judy" by the Allies.
Wartime conditions pointed up issues with the D4Y, however. The Atsuta engine was unreliable, and the IJN preferred radial engine aircraft in any case. In the D4Y3, the Atsuta was replaced with a more reliable Mitsubishi Kinsei radial engine, and this superseded the Atsuta-powered aircraft on the production line. The Kinsei gave the Suisei even better performance in the vertical, but the bigger engine made it tough to get back aboard a carrier, and reduced range. Operations in the Marianas also revealed the D4Y's biggest flaw: like most wartime Japanese aircraft, it traded protection for range, and if the Suisei was hit, its lack of crew armor and self-sealing fuel tanks usually killed the pilot and/or turned it into a torch.
As the Allies closed on Japan, the Suisei found another purpose, for which is was superbly suited: kamikaze. The D4Y's excellent dive speed made it hard to intercept, and though its flat-out speed no longer allowed it to outdistance the newer F6F Hellcat or F4U Corsair, it gave its crews a better chance than older aircraft. Suiseis were deadly against American carriers in the last year of the war: bomb-carrying D4Ys sank the USS Princeton (CVL-23) and heavily damaged the USS Franklin (CV-13); the latter was hit by two bombs that landed in a crowded hangar deck with a fully fueled and armed strike, and came very close to sinking the carrier. The Bunker Hill (CV-17) was also badly damaged by D4Y kamikazes, making it the most successful of the late-war Japanese attack aircraft. Some D4Y3s were modified as night fighters with cannon armament, but were unsuccessful, as they lacked radar with which to intercept the B-29 raids over Japan. The last kamikaze attack of the war, on 15 August 1945, was undertaken by D4Ys. A respectable 2038 Suiseis were built during the war, and two survive to this day.
This is the only D4Y outside of Japan, and one of the two survivors. License-built by Aichi as D4Y1 serial number 483, it was assigned to the 202nd Kokutai at Babo, New Guinea and saw combat against Allied forces. After Babo was knocked out by USAAF raids, 483 was abandoned at Babo. It was then forgotten, left to the jungle to reclaim, until 1991, when it was rediscovered. Jungle wrecks had been dismissed as useless except as spare parts sources (if that) when warbird restorations began in the 1950s, but by the 1990s, a combination of improved technology and the growing scarcity of warbirds meant that, while 483 was little more than a wreck, it was considered salvagable. The aircraft was brought to Planes of Fame in Chino, California, and restored using a Pratt and Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial, as a D4Y3.
This was one of the aircraft I'd promised myself was a "don't miss," and I didn't. The aircraft is in theory flyable, as the engine can be run up and the aircraft can taxi, but as 483 is one of only two surviving Suiseis, Planes of Fame understandably does not fly the aircraft.