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Some Thoughts on the Japanese Naval Airforce Land
Based Bomber Program
by Dwight Cox
A G4M "Betty" bomber carrying a
Baka bomb
Much criticism has been heaped the G3M and G4M series
bombers of the JNAF, but how much is deserved? The ‘Nell’
and the ‘Betty’ are derided by historians for their
inability to withstand gunfire from Allied fighters. A
closer look shows some deeper fundamental mistakes by the
JNAF.
In 1933 Admiral Yamamoto convinced the JNAF to adopt a
policy of land based long range bombers to engage enemy
fleets far out at sea. Three years later the Mitsubishi
G3M1a went into service as one of the most advanced long
range bombers of any air force in the world. Routine
missions in China with a combat radius approximately 1200
miles were flown. Due to heavier then expected Chinese
opposition losses were heavy. This led to two consequences,
the G3Ms defensive firepower was given a modest upgrade, and
far more importantly the G4M program was delayed for one
year while a small group of officers insisted on employing
the G4M as a ‘Convoy Wing Tip Fighter’. This caused a
crucial one year loss of production. In all fairness the
USAF’ YB-40 program tried do the same thing and met with as
little success as the Japanese did. The Americans’ huge
industrial base allowed for a certain leeway in pursuing
dead end ideas, and the remote control chin turret was soon
included on late model B-17Fs and the follow on B-17G. But
the twenty times smaller industrial base of Imperial Japan
did not permit the make up of the production deficit.
Admiral Yamamoto’s vision was vindicated on 10 Dec 1941
with the sinking of the HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse.
After this it was all down hill for the G4M. To be sure
the G4M had its good points, the MK4A Kinsei 1530hp engines
compared favorably with the GR-1820 1280hp Wright Cyclone
engines having only a slightly inferior performance above
twenty five thousand feet. The defensive armament of the
‘Betty’ in its later models became quite formidable with
four twenty mm cannons. However its propensity for
catching fire was only partially ameliorated, in part
because of the lack of two additional engines.
This brings us to the JNAFs second major
error. Mitsubishi had requested permission to upgrade the
design to four engines, but the JNAF refused. At the time
Nakajima was trying modify the American Douglas DC4-E
airliner to a long range bomber. This aircraft was a first
class turkey and was rejected by the airlines as
uneconomical and by Douglas as an unworkable design. There
are those who maintain that the US Government knew that
Japanese Navy wanted to convert the airliner to a bomber and
wanted to tie up a major portion its aircraft industry. Be
that as it may, the JNAF ignored the old proverb ‘A Bird in
the Hand is Worth Two in the Bush’ and suffered accordingly.
The Nakajima G5N Shinzan never entered service and the four
prototypes finished the war as transports. Two additional
engines on the G4M would have allowed the designers to
install adequate self-sealing tanks, fire extinguishers, and
armor plating without sacrificing the long range desired by
the JNAF. This in all likelihood would have turned a very
good aircraft into an out standing one. One only has to
look at the Kawanishi H8K ‘Emily’ Flying Boat or the Avro
Lancaster’ transition from the Manchester with its failure
prone Rolls Royce Vulture engines.
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