AP 118 · No. 11 Section II · Aircraft Plate 95 / 357

Plate 95 of 357 · Second World War · Land-based long-range naval bomber

Mitsubishi G3M2 Model 22

G3M2 Model 22 G-336, painted as Mitsubishi G3M2 Model 22 ‘Nell’ G-336 of the Genzan Kokutai, the Imperial Japanese Navy air group based at Wonsan in Korea whose G3M2s took part in sinking HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse off Malaya on 10 December 1941, as photographed from above in about 1941: a land-based twin-engined long-range bomber with two Mitsubishi Kinsei fourteen-cylinder radials driving three-bladed propellers, a glazed nose and cockpit, a large glazed 20 mm gun blister on the spine, slim gun blisters on each side of the rear fuselage, a wing spanning 25 m and twin fins and rudders, shown tail down on its wheels: plain dark green upper surfaces and fuselage sides, grey-green undersides, blue-black cowlings, brown propellers, white-edged hinomaru on the fuselage and upper wings, two white bands round the rear fuselage and ‘G-336’ in white on the fins below two white bands; the photograph is black and white, so the colours are the documented 1941 Navy bomber finish, and the under-wing hinomaru and port side, which it does not show, follow standard practice (shape from a G3M three-view scaled to the published span and length, checked against a second plan view and photographs).

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as Mitsubishi G3M2 Model 22 ‘Nell’ G-336 of the Genzan Kokutai, the Imperial Japanese Navy air group based at Wonsan in Korea whose G3M2s took part in sinking HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse off Malaya on 10 December 1941, as photographed from above in about 1941: a land-based twin-engined long-range bomber with two Mitsubishi Kinsei fourteen-cylinder radials driving three-bladed propellers, a glazed nose and cockpit, a large glazed 20 mm gun blister on the spine, slim gun blisters on each side of the rear fuselage, a wing spanning 25 m and twin fins and rudders, shown tail down on its wheels: plain dark green upper surfaces and fuselage sides, grey-green undersides, blue-black cowlings, brown propellers, white-edged hinomaru on the fuselage and upper wings, two white bands round the rear fuselage and ‘G-336’ in white on the fins below two white bands; the photograph is black and white, so the colours are the documented 1941 Navy bomber finish, and the under-wing hinomaru and port side, which it does not show, follow standard practice (shape from a G3M three-view scaled to the published span and length, checked against a second plan view and photographs). Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (1.2 MB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (G3M2 & G3M3 (Allied name ‘Nell’)); engine, crew and dimensions are for the G3M2 Model 22 G-336 modelled here.

History

The G3M2 ‘Nell’

In the early 1930s the Imperial Japanese Navy, limited by treaty in the number of aircraft carriers it could build, wanted a land-based bomber with the range to strike ships far out at sea from island and mainland bases. Mitsubishi’s design team under Kiro Honjo produced the Ka-15, a clean, all-metal mid-wing monoplane with retractable main wheels and twin fins, which first flew from Kagamigahara in July 1935. It entered service in 1936 as the Type 96 Attack Bomber, the G3M, and gave Japan a long-range bomber as modern as any in the world.

G3Ms went to war in China in August 1937, when the Kanoya and Kisarazu air groups flew across the East China Sea from Taiwan and Kyushu to bomb Chinese cities, the first transoceanic bombing raids in history, and lost heavily to Chinese fighters while they flew without escort. The improved G3M2, with more powerful Kinsei engines and more fuel, followed in 1937; the Model 22 replaced the retractable turrets with a large dorsal blister carrying a 20 mm cannon and gun blisters on each side of the fuselage. Nakajima built the final G3M3.

On 10 December 1941, two days after the Japanese landings in Malaya, G3M2s of the Genzan and Mihoro air groups and G4Ms of the Kanoya group found the British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse off Kuantan and sank both with bombs and torpedoes, the first capital ships sunk at sea by aircraft alone. By 1943 the G3M had been replaced as a bomber by the G4M and was flying as a transport, glider tug and maritime patrol aircraft. 1,048 were built, and no complete G3M survives.

This airframe

G3M2 Model 22 G-336, Genzan Kokutai

G-336The airframe modelled

G-336 is a G3M2 Model 22 of the Genzan Kokutai, the Navy air group from Wonsan in Korea that moved to Saigon in late 1941 and sent its G3M2s against Force Z on 10 December 1941. It is known from a sharp photograph taken from above and behind its starboard side in about 1941; the photograph is undated and cannot be tied to the attack on Prince of Wales and Repulse, but the unit and the style of its code match. It is modelled because no complete G3M survives, and G-336 is the best-photographed single coded G3M2 whose fit can be read: a Model 22, with the large glazed 20 mm blister on the spine and slim gun blisters on the fuselage sides instead of retractable turrets. None is in a UK museum. The model shows it standing tail down on its wheels: plain dark green upper surfaces and fuselage sides, grey-green undersides, blue-black cowlings, brown propellers, white-edged hinomaru on the fuselage and upper wings, two white bands round the rear fuselage and ‘G-336’ in white on the fins below two white bands, horizontal as the photograph shows them. Its shape comes from a G3M three-view scaled to the type’s span and length, checked against a second plan view and photographs, which show a slightly shallower fuselage than the drawings. The photograph is black and white, so the colours are the documented 1941 Navy bomber finish; the plain red hinomaru under the wings and the port side, which it does not show, follow standard practice.

Where to see one

Not on charge

No complete G3M survives, in Japan or anywhere else.

All 357 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.