Bombers Over China
After the debacle that was the initial bombing campaign against China, the 1st Rengo Kokutai was forced to take stock. So many bombers had been lost to enemy fighters and anti-aircraft fire that a radical […]
Year: 2015
Martin 139WC
The Martin B-10 was a revolutionary design on the early 30s. It was the first bomber to feature an all-metal construction, with monoplane rather than biplane wings, and retractable undercarriage. Its performance exceeded that of […]
Curtiss Model 68 Hawk III
The Hawk III that flew over the skies of Shanghai was an export model of the Curtiss BF2C-1 Goshawk, one of many aircraft in the Curtiss ‘Hawk’ series. The Goshawk was designed for a combined […]
Hiro G2H Type 95
The Hiro G2H was one of only two successful designs to emerge from a 1932 program to modernise the IJNAF (the other being the Kawanishi E7K Type 94 “Alf”). The “Navy Experimental 7-Shi Attack Bomber” […]
The Battle of Shanghai: Encirclement, 1937
The Battle of Shanghai continued into October 1937. After the Japanese had successfully landed at Baoshan, on the southern bank of the Yangtze, they failed to follow up this success with further gains. Pushing south […]
Nakajima E8N Type 95 “Dave”
Designed as a replacement for the E4N Type 90, the Nakajima E8N was a derivative of this older plane but featured a more powerful engine, slimmer wings, and a taller tail. A prototype was entered […]
Nakajima A2N Type 90
The design of the Nakajima A2N was loosely based on the Boeing Model 69 and Model 100 fighters, which had been imported into Japan in the late 1920s. The fighter was developed privately by Nakajima […]
The Blockade of Canton
As the fighting around Shanghai and Nanking raged, events around the southern city of Canton (now Guangdong) were conspiring to draw Japanese air and naval forces into battle in that area. Still hoping to conclude […]
Northrop Gamma 2E
Originally, the Northrop Gamma 2E was a light cargo aircraft designed to carry airmail across North America for Trans-World Airlines. In civilian guises the Gamma also acted as a flying laboratory, and set numerous records […]
Mitsubishi G3M Type 96 “Nell”
The origins of the Type 96 bomber, later codenamed “Nell” by the Americans, lay in Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto’s plans for attacking enemy battleships and land installations in the far reaches of the Pacific. The new […]