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Subject: Mitsubishi G3M
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_G3M
The Mitsubishi G3M (???????? Kyuroku-shiki rikujo kogeki-ki: Type 96 land-based
attack aircraft "Rikko"; Allied reporting name "Nell") was a Japanese bomber and
transport aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) during
World War II.
The G3M has its origins in a specification submitted to the Mitsubishi company
from the Imperial Japanese Navy requesting a heavy bomber aircraft with a range
figure unprecedented[citation needed] at the time. This principally stemmed from
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's influence in the Naval High Commission on the
necessity of a heavy bomber capable of encompassing the enormous ranges of the
arenas where Imperial Japan sought to conquer in the years to come, including
Asia, the Pacific Isles and the vast far east of the Soviet Union.
The requirement for payload was also unprecedented in Japanese military aviation
history, though necessary to accommodate the aerial torpedo envisaged to combat
the armoured battleships of the Allies in the geographical broadness of the
Pacific front. The speed requirement submitted by the naval department was again
also unprecedented[citation needed], not only in Japanese but also in
international heavy bomber aviation, where in relation to the envisaged Japanese
battlegrounds of China and the Pacific, the bomber would need to not only cover
long distances, but necessarily have exceptional speed to strike distant targets
with a minimum attack time. Thus the G3M was an embodiment of Japanese military
aircraft design in the brief period leading to the Pacific War, with powerful
offensive armament (in this case in the form of bombs and torpedoes) and range
and speed emphasised over protection and defensive capabilities.
Role
Medium bomber[citation needed]
Manufacturer
Mitsubishi
Designer
Kiro Honjo
First flight
July 1935
Introduction
1935
Retired
1945
Primary user
Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
Number built
1,048
The G3M flew for first time in 1935, taking off from a Nagasaki airfield
belonging to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and landing at Haneda Airport on the
outskirts of Tokyo. The G3M first saw combat in Japan's expansionist campaigns
on the Chinese mainland in what became known as the "Second Sino-Japanese War",
where the G3M was able to exploit its long-range capability when, during
operating alongside the Kanoya and Kizarazu Kokutai based in Taipei, Formosa,
Omura, Kyushu and Jeju Island. On 14 August of that same year, 42 Nells and
seven Hiro G2H1s, escorted by 12 Nakajima A4Ns and 12 Mitsubishi A5Ms of the 2nd
Rengo Kokutai (a unit consisting of the 12th and 13th kokutai), departed from
their bases to cross the East China Sea for the bombing of Hangchow and Kwanteh,
and performed, amongst other actions, terror bombing of coastal and inland
targets in China, including bombing during the Battle of Shanghai and Nanjing.
Later, from bases in occupied Chinese territories, it took part in the strategic
carpet bombing of the Chinese heartland, its combat range being sufficient for
the great distances involved. Most notably, it was involved in the
round-the-clock bombing of Chongqing.
When the Pacific War erupted with the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941,
the G3M was by this time considered to be antiquated, but still three front-line
units (the 22nd to 24th koku sentai) were operating a total of 204 G3M2s in four
kokutai (naval air corps) in the central Pacific[2] and of these 54 aircraft
from the Takao Kokutai[3][4] were deployed from Formosa in the opening of the
Battle of the Philippines. On 8 December 1941, (7 December across the
International Date Line), G3Ms from the Mihoro Kokutai struck Singapore City
from bases in occupied Vietnam as one of many air raids during the Battle of
Singapore, resulting in thousands of British and Asian civilians dead. Wake
Island was similarly bombed by G3Ms from the Chitose Kokutai on the first day of
the war, with both civilian and US Navy infrastructure being heavily damaged on
the ground. Other G3Ms of Chitose Kokutai, based in Kwajalein Island, attacked
US Navy and civilian installations on Howland Island in the same period.
Specifications (Mitsubishi G3M2 Model 21)
General characteristics
Crew: 7
Length: 16.45 m (54 ft 0 in)
Wingspan: 25 m (82 ft 0 in)
Height: 3.68 m (12 ft 1 in)
Wing area: 75 m2 (810 sq ft)
Empty weight: 4,965 kg (10,946 lb)
Gross weight: 8,000 kg (17,637 lb)
Fuel capacity: 3,874 l (852.2 imp gal; 1,023.4 US gal)
kW (1,061 hp) each
Performance
Maximum speed: 375 km/h (233 mph; 202 kn)
Cruising speed: 280 km/h (174 mph; 151 kn)
Range: 4,400 km (2,734 mi; 2,376 nmi)
Service ceiling: 9,200 m (30,184 ft)
Rate of climb: 6 m/s (1,200 ft/min)
Armament
Guns:
positions, and in retractable forward dorsal turret.
Bombs: 800 kg (1,800 lb) of bombs or one aerial torpedo
*
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