Tag Archives: Nakajima B5N2

Last of the Rising Sun

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Masamitsu Yoshioka, the last of Japan’s Pearl Harbor attack force, has passed at 106.

He was an enlisted navigator/bombardier on a Kate from the light carrier Soryu. He dropped a torpedo into the target ship USS Utah (AG-19), the “Forgotten Ship of Pearl Harbor” and was remorseful over that action for decades after. 

Via the Washington Post.

When Pearl Harbor came into view, black smoke was already rising from the U.S. ships hit by the first wave of Japan’s surprise attack. The crew of a Nakajima B5N2 torpedo bomber readied for its run.

The 23-year-old navigator and bombardier on board, Masamitsu Yoshioka, had practiced his part of the maneuver for months without knowing the mission. He was stunned when he was told his carrier group was part of a massive strike on American territory that included more than 300 Japanese warplanes. “The blood rushed out of my head,” Mr. Yoshioka recalled. “I knew that this meant a gigantic war.”

More here.

It is estimated that there are still around 19 American Pearl Harbor survivors. 

Terribly Advanced for 1941

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Imperial Japanese Navy Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” Type 97 carrier bomber’s bombing computer.

“This was standard equipment in the cockpit of the Nakajima B5N2 ‘Kate’ carrier attack bomber. This may be one of the few surviving examples of this piece of equipment. Complete and functional, this Type 97 computer uses a Seikosha timer to calculate the dropping of up to six bombs at one of three pre-set intervals. The aircraft commander also served as the bombardier in the B5N and set in the middle of the pilot and rear gunner/radio operator. Time to target would be calculated using an optical sight, then the computer set to run and drop the bombs upon the commander’s flip of a switch on this box – designed to be swiped with a gloved hand. The timer started and the computer-controlled the dropping of the bombs.”

Sauce.

B5N2 torpedo bomber taking off from IJN carrier Zuikaku

In the first wave at Pearl Harbor, 40 Kates attacked with aerial torpedoes, sinking four battleships (USS California, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Nevada) while 49 B5N2s attacked with high-level bombs, destroying USS Arizona with a crucial hit.

In the second wave, 54 Kates attacked airfields, each dropping one 534-lb. bomb and either a second 534-lb. bomb or six 133-lb. bombs.