Nakajima B5N2, Codename "Kate"
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 7:39 pmWith this aircraft in 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy possessed the most modern carrier-based torpedo aircraft in the world. Neither the US Navy's Douglas TBM Devastator nor the Fairey "Swordfish" biplane were comparable to her, but by 1943 she was obsolete and was superseded by the Nakajima B6N "Tenzan" (codename "Jill"). But this type remained in service with land-based units until the end of the war, including for kamikaze operations. Why did this plane become obsolete so quickly? Like the classic fighter of the Japanese naval aviation, the B5N had no armor, self-sealing tanks and other safety devices that European pilots take for granted, not even a forward-firing machine gun for self-defense.The reason was not that Japanese pilots were all suicidal, as you can read about in many a publication, but that the Japanese quite simply did not have more powerful engines and had to save weight wherever possible... Since this was my first flight with the thing, I did without armament to familiarize myself with the flight characteristics. Torpedoes, depth charges for submarine hunting and conventional bombs are possible. By the way, my mistake on landing was not attempting a three point landing. So you can't land on an aircraft carrier like the Shinano which is included in the pack as well as the Kaga and the Akagi.
