Yokosuka D4Y
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The Yokosuka D4Y Suisei (彗星, "comet") was a dive bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Its Allied codename was "Judy".
It was developed starting in 1938 at the Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal, based on two Heinkel He 118 dive bombers that had been supplied by Germany. The first D4Y1 prototype made its maiden flight in December 1940, and proved to possess an excellent combination of high performance and good handling. After the prototype's successful trials development was sped up, the first unpleasant surprise came. Although well-proportioned and purposeful in appearance, service trials demonstrated weakness in the wing structure. During dive-bombing trials the wings of the D4Y started to flutter, so much that it could break up the wing spars, a fatal flaw for an airframe subject to the stresses of the dive bombing manoeuver, and the initial models were used as reconnaissance planes starting in late 1942.
The structural problems were fixed by March 1943, and ultimately 2,038 were produced, mostly by Aichi.
In the early versions the Yokosuka D4Y Suisei was hard to keep serviceable since the liquid-cooled Atsuta in-line inverted-V12 engines were unreliable and difficult to maintain. Already since the beginning there were voices heard that argued the Suisei should be powered by an air-cooled radial, the type of engine Japan had experience with and trusted.
As soon as time permitted the Aichi design team therefore looked for a radial engine, and the Mitsubishi MK8P Kinsei 62 radial, rated at 1,560 hp (1.163 kW), was selected, which resulted in the Yokosuka D4Y3 Model 33 with 14-cylinder two-row radial engine. The drawback of the radial engine version was the fact that the forward and downward view of the pilot worsened, hampering carrier operations.
Lacking armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, the [Suiseis] did not do well against Allied fighter aircraft. They did, however, cause considerable damage to ships, including the carrier USS Franklin, which was nearly sunk by a single "Judy".
Specifications (D4Y2)
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