Name This AE...334

[Brady]

???

[Local Yokel]

B5N2 (nearest) plus B5N1 (furthest).  I suspect that rising smoke may be Palembang or somewhere nearby.  I would say these aircraft are from Ryujo's Kanko-tai, and that the date is early 1942, at which time Ryujo was operating this mix of carrier attack planes.

[Howard Mitchell]

A couple of B5N2 'Kates' I think, but what's on fire below I don't know.

Edit: Curses! You've got to be really fast around here before the real experts step in!

[Mistmatz]

To me it looks like a burning vessel, maybe a tanker. I don't see any land or city on this image.

[DivePac88]

19 February at Darwin, after the KB raid, the Destroyer USS Peary burning.

[Mike Scholl]

Two very embarressed Japanese Pilots who've just realized they torpedoed their own carrier?   [:D]

[Fallschirmjager]

Is it just me or does the more distant plane not have a rear mounted machine gun? And I notice that the rear gunner in the fore plane is not even attending his machine gun. Was it not SOP to always man the gun?

[Brady]

B5N2 (nearest) plus B5N1 (furthest), it is[:)]

Ryujo's Kanko-tai, it is[:)]

................

Image source indicates the following:

As for the use of the two subtypes (B5N1 and B5N2), photographic documents confirm this. In the excellent book writen by Michel Ledet "Samouraï sur porte-avions", the top photo on page 145 (credit Maru) shows two Ryûjo's Kates operating in the Bangka Area, near Sumatra. The plane in the foreground is a B5N2 and the plane in the background is a B5N1

Thanks to Froggy at J-Aircraft.

Mark E. Horn from the saem source also addded this:

New information based on a detailed analysis of Ryûjo's Sentô Kodoshocho shows that the ship did carry torpedoes - using them on three missions, one in December 1941 (one torpedo equipped plane attached to a bombing force) and two in April 1942 (two torpedo equipped planes each time).

.............

The B5N1 just has not deployed its tail gun, the Guns could be stowed and the canopy closed when not in use.

[ChezDaJez]

ORIGINAL: Fallschirmjager

Is it just me or does the more distant plane not have a rear mounted machine gun? And I notice that the rear gunner in the fore plane is not even attending his machine gun. Was it not SOP to always man the gun?

The rear MG can swivel down into the cockpit. The guns were only manned when action was expected.

The photo shows the Kate's triple bomb racks pretty well.