Although thought to be obsolescent when Japan entered the war, the Aichi D3A with fixed spatted landing gear was the first Japanese aircraft to drop bombs on American targets when aircraft of this type took part in the great raid on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Designed to a 1936 carrier-based dive-bomber requirement, the prototype was flown in January 1938 with a 530kW Nakajima Hikari 1 Radial. Production D3A1 aircraft had slightly smaller wings and were powered by the 745kW Mitsubishi Kinsei 43 radial. A dorsal fin extension considerably improved the aircraft's manoeuvrability, although the armament of only two forward-firing 7.7mm machine-guns, with another of the same calibre in the rear cockpit, was undeniably puny. After limited land-based operations in China and Indo-China, D3As were flown in all major carrier actions during the first 10 months of the war and sank more Allied naval vessels than any other Axis aircraft. Among British casualties in D3A1 attacks were HMS Hermes (the world's first carrier to be sunk by carrier aircraft), and the cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire. Heavy losses among D3Als during and after the Battle of the Coral Sea, however, forced withdrawal by most of the survivors to land bases. In 1942 the D3A2 was introduced with increased fuel capacity and more powerful engine, but by 1944 the aircraft were hopelessly outclassed by American fighters; a small number was subsequently employed in kamikaze attacks. Production amounted to 476 D3Als and 1,016 D3A2. The Allied reporting name was 'Val'.

3-View

A three-view drawing (752 x 989)