WWII Imperial Japanese Naval Aviation Page
At the begining of World War II, the Imperial Navy had created
the finest naval aviation corps in the world. Japanese aircraft were at
least the equals of anything then flying in the West, and in some cases (as
with the legendary Zero fighter) were substantially better. Japanese
aircrews were superbly trained and had been battle tested in the conflict in
China during the late 1930's. When war tore across the Pacific in December
1941, the IJNAF was more than a match for any of its opponents. It is not
surprsing, then, that Japanese aviators scored victory after stunning
victory during the first six months of the war, from the attack on Pearl
Harbor, through the sinking of the British men-of-war Prince of Wales
and Repulse, to the fearsome raids on northern Australia and the
IJN's rampage through the Indian Ocean in April 1942. Only after the defeat
at Coral Sea and the debacle at Midway was this force finally able to be
engaged on nearly equal terms. Throughout the war, the IJNAF remained a
potent weapon, though Japanese equipment was eventually outclassed by newer
American models, and relentless attrition began to take its toll on pilot
quality. Even in defeat, though, the IJNAF refused to wilt away, finally
immolating itself in the form of the Kamikaze air corps.
The following information on the Imperial Navy's air armada has been
compiled and presented by Joao Paulo Julião Matsuura, a naval architecture
student in Brazil. These pages contains information about almost all
Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft used during the World War II period. The
pages are organized by aircraft type (carrier fighters, carrier bombers,
etc.) with individual pages under them for each aircraft model. Comments
should be directed to:
