January 18th, 1943
3 SB-2cs attempt to bomb our troops at Chungking, 1 is shot down by AA fire.
In the Pacific, enemy carriers head east away from Midway.
The enemy is using a large fleet of submarines to supply Laysan. Our mine laying submarines are en route to see if they can make the approaches to Laysan more dangerous for these stealthy suppliers.
With the carriers heading east, bombing of Laysan will resume.
The first batch of 4 Kagero and 2 Yugumo destroyers have finished repairing from their upgrades and will head to Kwajelein. 14 other destroyers, along with Oi and Kitakami are in port having just begun their upgrades. They will head to Kwajelein as fast as they can as we have a destroyer shortage at Kwaj since so many are getting upgraded at once. But all that AA and radar is well worth the trouble.
Shokaku and Zuikaku are due for upgrades in February. If there is no action by the 27th, they will head home to Japan at full speed, get their upgrades and then head back to Kwaj at cruise. The next four or five months have at least one carrier class getting upgraded each month. Our DBs and TBs are getting upgraded as well. First is the D4Y Judy.
The aircraft was a single engined all-metal low winged monoplane, with a wide-track retractable undercarriage and wing mounted dive brakes. It had a crew of two: a pilot and a navigator/radio-operator/gunner, seated under a long glazed canopy which provided good all-round visibility. The pilot of bomber versions was provided with a telescopic bomb-sight. The aircraft was powered by an Aichi Atsuta liquid-cooled inverted V-12 in-line engine, a licenced copy of the German DB 601, a rated at 1,200 hp. The radiator was behind and below the three-bladed propeller, as in the P-40.
It had a slim, elegant fuselage that enabled it to reach high speeds in horizontal flight and in dives, while low wing-loading gave excellent maneuverability, with the Suisei having superior performance than contemporary dive-bombers such as the SB2C Helldiver. In order to conform with the Japanese Navy's doctrine of ensuring that its aircraft could outrange potential enemies, weight had to be minimized with the result that the D4Y was not fitted with self-sealing fuel tanks and armor. In consequence, the D4Y was extremely vulnerable and tended to catch fire when hit. This made the D4Y extremely vulnerable to any enemy aircraft that could catch it.
Bombs were fitted under the wings and in an internal bomb bay, something rare in a single-engine aircraft. It carried one 500 kg bomb, but there were reports that the D4Y sometimes carried two 250 kg bombs, for example during the attack on USS Princeton. Only 30 kg bombs were carried externally. The aircraft was armed with two 7.7mm machine guns in the nose, and one 7.92mm Type 1 machine gun in the rear of the cockpit. (The 7.92mm was carried because of its higher rate of fire.) Later the 7.92mm was replaced by a 13mm Type 2 machine gun. This light gun armament was typical for a Japanese carrier bomber. The forward machine guns were retained in the kamikaze version.
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The D4Y Judy[/center]
