World War II Database

1.  Bill says:
14 Jan 2012 07:43:44 AM

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR ENEMY:

Before Pearl Harbor, 12/7/41 US Intelligence believed Japanese Naval Air Forces and the Army Air Force operated outdated biplane aircraft. Reports from the war in China were filed away and not taken seriously.
Events before Pearl Harbor and what types
of aircraft that were used by Japan, many believed that the B4Y "Jean" Torpedo bomber,
D1A "Susie" Dive bomber and the A5M "Claude"
fighter, were first-line equipment as late as 1941. Intelligence even believed Japanese pilots were second-class to Western pilots and training.

h the U.S. and British Intelligence as well as other Countries in Western Europe
also believed that the Japanese aircraft industry built copies of dated Western designs. And Japan could only produce copies of dated Western designs.

2.  Bill says:
14 Jan 2012 07:38:18 PM

In the 1930s the Imperial Navy Kaga's air group was made up of Twelve Mitsubishi A5M "Claude" fighters, Thirtysix Yokosuka B4Y "Jean" torpedo bombers and Eighteen Aichi D1A "Susie" dive bombers.

1930s EQUIPMENT: WAS REPLACED IN THE 1940s

FIGHTERS:

The Mitsubishi A5M "Claude" was an open cockpit fixed landing gear fighter w/2x7.7mm machine guns. later to be replaced by the Mitsubishi A6M2-21 Zero w/2x7.7mm machine guns and 2x20mm cannons.

TORPEDO BOMBERS:

The Yokosuka B4Y "Jean" was an open cockpit, torpedo bomber biplane w/fixed landing gear, w/1x7.7mm machine gun. later to be replaced with the Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bomber
w/1x7.7mm machine gun.

DIVE BOMBERS:

The Aichi D1A "Susie" was an open cockpit biplane dive bomber w/fixed landing gear w/3x7.7mm machine guns. later to be replaced with the Aichi D3A "Val" dive bomber
w/3x7.7mm machine guns.