|
 |
|
|
| Missing In Action (MIA) | Prisoners Of War (POW) | Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) |
| Chronology | Locations | Aircraft | Ships | Submit Info | How You Can Help | Donate |
|
| IJN 582 Kōkūtai |
Aircraft History Built by Aichi, completed during June 1942. At the factory painted overall gray with a black cowling. Delivered to the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as Type 99 Carrier Bomber / Ku Ku Kamba (Kanbaku) / D3A1 Model 11 Val manufacture number 3470. Wartime History Assigned to 582 Kōkūtai (582 Air Group). In the field, painted with green upper surfaces. Tail code T3-261 in white with a red horizontal stripe across the tail and vertical stripe on the rear fuselage. During late 1942 or early 1943, this Val was abandoned at Munda Airfield with a damaged right wing. On the ground, the aircraft sustained more damage to the airframe from Allied bombing and bombardment of the area. Wreckage During early August 1943, this largely intact Val was among the Japanese aircraft captured at Munda Airfield captured by the U.S. Army at Munda Airfield. When captured, the Val had shrapnel damaged on the left side of the fuselage, the fabric was holed and the cockpit canopy glass and engine cowling were missing. Soon afterwards, examined by a team from Technical Air Intelligence Unit (TAIU) that noted the manufacture number, tail number and took several photographs of the aircraft. Ultimate fate unknown, likely scrapped or otherwise disappeared. Richard Dunn adds: "The crash report says that the stencil port side forward of horizontal stabilizer translates: "Type 99 (no model) carrier borne bomber." The report talks about 3029, 3106, and 3263 and lumps them together as the same type and mentions salvage of parts from 'both models' clearly implying 3470 is different. A separate summary CEAR identifies 3470 as a Val Mk 1 assembled June 42. The fact that the stencil fails to note a model number implies it was a mark 1 as no model number was necessary on the original type (there being no mark 2 at that time)." References Serial Number & Production Sequence D3A2 Carrier Bombers by Jim Long CEAR (Crashed Enemy Aircraft Report) No. ?? FAOW #3, page 53 Japanese Naval Air Force Camouflage and Markings, World War II (1968) pages 83, 116 Thanks to Richard Dunn and Jim Long for additional information Contribute
Information Last Updated
|
 Val  Photo Archive |
| Discussion Forum | Daily Updates | Reviews | Museums | Interviews & Oral Histories |
|
