As far back as 1935, in response to Japanese naval requirement for a landbased twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft, Mitsubishi flew the first Ka-15 prototype, an aircraft which possessed a design potential that allowed development as a long-range medium bomber. Accordingly, following successful flight trials, the aircraft entered production in June 1936 as the Navy Type 96 Attack Bomber Model 11 (Mitsubishi G3M1). The initial version, of which 34 were produced, was powered by 678kW Kinsei 3 radials and possessed a maximum speed of 360km/h at 1975m. As the improved Kinsei 41 and 42 engine became available in 1937 a new version, the G3M2, started production and, with a total of 581 built by mid-1941, was the principal variant. With a top speed now increased to 374km/h, a bombload of up to 800kg carried externally and a defensive armament of three 7.7mm machine-guns, the G3M2 possessed a maximum range of 4380km. A yet further improved version, of which production was undertaken by Nakajima during 1941-3, was the G3M3 with 970kW Kinsei 51 radiais and a top speed of 415km/h at 6000m.

Mitsubishi G3M2s were first flown in action by the Japanese navy's Kanoya Kokutai in August 1937 in raids on Hangchow and Kwangteh in China. By 1940 four kokutais in China were equipped with a total of about 130 G3M2s, a number that grew to 204 by the date of Pearl Harbor with the deployment of forces against Wake Island, the Philippines and the Marianas. And it was a force of 60 G3M2s of the Genzan and Minoro Kokutais (with 26 Mitsubishi G4Mls of the Kanoya Kokutai) which, flying from bases in Indo- China, found and sank the British warships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse as they steamed without fighter protection off the Malayan coast on 10 December 1941. The type was known to the Allies as the 'Nell'.

3-View

A three-view drawing (752 x 765)