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Untitled Document
D3A Dive-Bomber
Just as the Junkers 87, also known better as the Stuka dive-bomber, was a key factor in Germany's “Blitzkrieg” tactic, the D3A filled a similar “Blitzkrieg” role for Japan. An impetuous conquest of the South-East Asia by Japan was accompanied by the sound of bombs dropped by these bombers. Japanese command made considerable efforts to improve the technique, tactics and training of
naval pilots. It is a safe bet to say that by the year 1942 Japan had the most numerous and the best trained
naval air force in the world. The same goes for the dive bomber corps. Suffice to say that the probability of a bomb hitting its target ship reached 90% those years!
A defeat of the American Navy in Pearl-Harbor, bombing
of Wake, Port Darwin on February 19, 1942,
sinking of the cruisers “Cornwall” and “Dorsetshire”
on April 5, 1942, destruction of the carrier “Hermes” carrier – this list of Japanese dive bomber victories is yet far from complete.
Most of them were achieved under the command of lieutenant-colonel Takahashi.
The aircraft possessed fair performance characteristics, though it cannot be said that Japanese engineers under the lead of Takushihiro Goake had managed to solve every problem at once. The aircraft had required thorough tweaking, even though its development was primarily based on German “passenger” bomber He-70. The aircraft’s tests had been passed in March 1939, and by the start of the war in the Pacific it had already been familiar to pilots. Until Americans got their famous “Dauntless”, it was unmatched by any other aircraft.
After losing the strategic initiative and air superiority,
old D3A dive bombers couldn’t reach such extraordinary results anymore. Japanese
naval air force was crippled by the loss of the best dive bomber pilots
during the 1942-1943 fights. The situation was complicated even further by
the lack of a worthy successor – the D4Y couldn’t get rid of its major flaw,
its inability to dive bomb as the wings would flutter so much that it could
break the wing spars. Because of that, the transfer of D3A to rear services
as a training aircraft began only in 1944. At the last stages of the war,
some D3A were used as kamikaze aircraft.
D3A in Pacific Storm
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