Yokosuka D4Y Totally Explained

Everything about Yokosuka D4y totally explained

The Yokosuka D4Y Suisei (彗星, "comet") was a dive bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Its Allied codename was "Judy". The D4Y was one of the fastest dive-bombers in the entire war, and only the delays in its development hindered its service, while its predecessor, the more robust but slower Aichi D3A remained in service for years. Despite this limited use, the speed and the range of the D4Y was nevertheless valuable, and the type was used with success as reconnaissance aircraft as well as in kamikaze missions.

Design and development

Development of the aircraft began in 1938 at the Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal as a carrier based dive bomber to replace the Aichi D3A. The design was heavily influenced by the Heinkel He 118 dive bomber. Two He 118s were provided by Nazi Germany.
   The aircraft was a single engined all-metal low winged monoplane, with a wide-track retractable undercarriage and wing mounted dive brakes. It had a crew of two: a pilot and a navigator/radio-operator/gunner, seated under a long glazed canopy which provided good all-round visibility. The pilot of bomber versions was provided with a telescopic bomb-sight. The aircraft was powered by an Aichi Atsuta liquid-cooled inverted V-12 in-line engine, a licenced copy of the German DB 601, a rated at 1,200 hp. The radiator was behind and below the three-bladed propeller, as in the P-40.
   It had a slim, elegant fuselage that enabled it to reach high speeds in horizontal flight and in dives, while low wing-loading gave excellent manouverabilty, with the Suisei having superior performance than contemporary dive-bombers such as the SB2C Helldiver. In order to conform with the Japanese Navy's doctrine of enduring that its aircraft could outrange potential enemies, weight had to be minimized with the result that the D4Y wasn't fitted with self-sealing fuel tanks and armor. In consequence, the D4Y was extremely vulnerable and tended to catch fire when hit. This made the D4Y extremely vulnerable to any enemy aircraft that could catch it.
   Bombs were fitted under the wings and in an internal bomb bay, something rare in a single-engine aircraft. It carried one 500 kg bomb, but there were reports that the D4Y sometimes carried two 250 kg bombs, for example during the attack on USS Princeton. Only 30 kg bombs were carried externally. The aircraft was armed with two 7.7mm machine guns in the nose, and one 7.92mm Type 1 machine gun in the rear of the cockpit. (The 7.92mm was carried because of its higher rate of fire.) Later the 7.92mm was replaced by a 13mm Type 2 machine gun. This light gun armament was typical for a Japanese carrier bomber. The forward machine guns were retained in the kamikaze version.
   The first D4Y1 prototype made its maiden flight in December 1940. After the prototype's successful trials, development continued, and the first problems appeared. During dive-bombing trials the wings of the D4Y started to flutter, a fatal flaw for an airframe subject to the stresses of dive bombing. Because of this, initial production aircraft were used as reconnaissance aircraft, as the D4Y1-C, which took advantage of its high speed and long range, while not over-stressing the airframe.
   The last version was the D4Y4 Special Strike Bomber. This one-seat kamikaze aircraft, capable of carrying one 800 kg bomb, was put into production in February 1945. It was equipped with three RATO boosters for terminal dive acceleration. This aircraft was an almost ideal kamikaze model: it had a combination of speed (560 km/h), range (2,500 km) and payload (800 kg) probably not matched by any other Japanese aircraft.
   The D4Y5 Model 54 was a planned version designed in 1945. It was to be powered by the Nakajima JK9C Homare 12 radial engine rated at 1,825 hp (1,361 kW), would have a new four-blade metal propeller of the constant-speed type, and would have more armor protection for the crew and fuel tanks.
   Ultimately 2,038 of all variants were produced, mostly by Aichi. |crew=two (pilot & gunner/radio operator) |length main= 33 ft 6 in |length alt=10.22 m |span main=37 ft 9 in |span alt=11.50 m |height main=12 ft 3 in |height alt=3.74 m |area main= 254 ft² |area alt= 23.6 m² |empty weight main=5,379 lb |empty weight alt=2,440 kg |loaded weight main=9,370 lb |loaded weight alt=4,250 kg |max takeoff weight main= |max takeoff weight alt= |engine (prop)=Aichi Atsuta AEIA 32 |type of prop= piston engine |number of props=1 |power main=1,400 hp |power alt=1,044 kW |max speed main=342 mph |max speed alt=550 km/h |range main=910 miles |range alt=1,465 km |ceiling main=35,105 ft |ceiling alt=10,700 m |climb rate main= ft/min |climb rate alt= m/s |loading main= 37 lb/ft² |loading alt= 180 kg/m² |power/mass main=0.15 hp/lb |power/mass alt=0.25 kW/kg |armament=

2x forward-firing 7.7 mm machine guns

1x rearward-firing 7.92 mm machine gun

up to 800 kg (1,765 lb) of bombs }}Further Information

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