The recon Nell in game terms

[el cid again]

I described the G3M2-KAI recon Nell some time ago. It was described in Zero - but I had forgotten it -
the authors said they flew long range photo recon missions in unmarked Nells before the war. But no
data was included - and neither was the official designation of the variant. When this data turned up,
not long ago - I designed a version of the plane for use. Now that RHS is in actual human testing,
I get to see it. It is not capable of bombing. It has far better performance - in particular range and
altitude performance - than the bomber versions. It is comparable to a Betty in range - favorably so -
and its routine operational altitude is (was) 30,000 feet. It is practically immune to interception early
in the war, and explains why the JNAF didn't buy dedicated recon platforms after the Ki-15 (C5M in Navy
terms) - it didn't need them. [Eventually a handful of Ki-46s were used as well - over Northern Australia -
but not at the start of the war]

These planes are the ones fitted to the 9 plane units at game start - and a single one operates out of
Kwajalein to recon Wake. Those units (the formal term in JNAF usage) - two in Indochina and one in
Formosa - explain how the Japanese were so good at finding ships at sea when the war began - something
impossible if you limit yourself to Babs. It turns out to be a very useful addition - even at the cost of losing
a few bombers.

[Commander Stormwolf]

unmarked G3M.. always wondered how IJN pre-war recon was so good

probably did the same over the philipines... their target recognition at clark and manila was impressive

thanks for sharing