Country of origin:

Japan

Description:

Carrier-based dive-bomber and reconnaissance aircraft

Power Plant:

(D4Y1 Model 11)

One 895 kw (1,200 hp) Aichi Atsuta 12 twelve-cylinder VEE liquid-cooled engine

Specifications:

Armament:

Two fixed fuselage mounted 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Type 97 machine guns; one rear firing flexible 7.92 mm Type 1 machine gun

History:

In 1938 the Japanese Navy acquired from Germany an example of the Heinkel He 118 (4th prototype) and licence production rights.  Powered by a Daimler Benz DB 601A engine it underwent some testing but was lost when it broke up in flight.  However, the Japanese Navy was impressed with the design and Engineer Masao Yamano of the Dai-Ichi Kaigun Koku Gijitsusho was asked to lead a team to design a similar aircraft but smaller in size so it could operate from Japanese aircraft carriers.  The prototype D4Y1 Susei (Comet), powered by a 716 kw (960 hp) Daimler Benz DB 600G engine, made its first flight at Yokosuka in December 1940, and a further five prototypes were built.

Initial production D4Y1s came from the Aichi plant at Nagoya, and these were fitted with the 895 kw (1,200 hp) Aichi AE1A Atsuta 12 engine. These entered service in the reconnaissance role with a K-8 camera in the rear fuselage, becoming known as the D4Y1-C for aircraft carrier operations.  Two were aboard the carrier Soryu when it was sunk at the Battle of Midway.

In July 1942 the D4Y1-C entered production as the Navy Type 2 Carrier Reconnaissance Plane Model 11.  Development of the type proceeded and improvements included reinforcement of the wing spars, and improved dive brakes.  The type became known to the Allies as “Judy”. Aircraft built between April 1943 and March 1944 were built for the dive-bombing role and examples were sent to the Marianas. A number were attached to nine Japanese aircraft carriers.  During the Battle of the Marianas the flights of Judys heading for the US fleet were intercepted by US carrier-borne fighter aircraft and a large number were shot down during what became known as the “Marianas Turkey Shoot”.

Development continued to the D4Y2 (Susei Carrier Bomber Model 12) fitted with a 1,044 kw (1,400 hp) Aichi A11P Atsuta 32 engine, and the D4Y2a (Model 12A), which had a 13 mm (0.51 in) Type 2 machine gun in lieu of the 7.92 mm (0.31 in) machine gun.  These later models were decimated during battles in the Philippines by superior numbers of US fighters, and at this time a number were used in the Kamikaze role.  In 1944 a D4Y2 airframe was fitted with a 1,164 kw (1,560 hp) Mitsubishi MK8P Kinsei 62 radial engine, this new model becoming known as the D4Y3 (Susei Carrier Bomber Model 33).

The D4Y4 was a variant designed for the suicide mission role and was a single-seater with the Mitsubishi Kinsei engine and an 800 kg (1,764 lb) bomb.  A number were built as the D4Y2-S for the night fighter role but were not particularly successful.  The last sortie of the type was on 15 August 1945 when 11 aircraft carried out kamikaze attacks off Okinawa.  Total production of the series was 2,038 aircraft.

Although used in some numbers in the South Pacific, and in New Guinea, only a few wrecks have been located over the years, and most of these, like most aircraft wrecks lying where they crashed or were abandoned, have been overtaken by the growth of jungle over the years and have suffered considerably from corrosion.

It is known one D4Y2 ”Judy” 22 wreck is located at Bombarai Peninsula, Irian Jaya in what was Dutch New Guinea. One D4Y1 is on display at the Yushukan Shrine in Tokyo, and another D4Y1 was recovered from Indonesia in 1991 for the Planes of Fame Museum at Chino in California, being fitted with a Pratt & Whitney R-1820 engine, which can be taxied.