Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ and B6N ‘Jill’ Units (Combat Aircraft, 119)

Another good Osprey Combat Aircraft book. The usual development, campaigns, etc, lineup. Though I've read much about the Pacific campaigns, which for a mere hobbyist like myself, can be extensive, this book was an enjoyable read. Apart from other Japanese issues, which are inherently few, this book not only described 'Kate' ops, but succinctly and comprehensively described the major background naval campaigns including Pearl, Indian Ocean, Coral Sea, Midway, Australia, Solomons, Philippines, and Okinawa. The description of the terrible losses inflicted on the IJN after Midway was interesting in context.Indeed, not knowing much about 'Jill' operations and looking forward to reading about such, it was compelling to read how, by the time they'd been put into action, the situation was almost hopeless. But they fought on, being cut up by fighters, devastated by AA, employed as Kamikazes, and even getting lost and flying into oblivion, as did many on both sides.Some of the early (mid 90's) Osprey aircraft series issues ('Aces' and 'Combat Aircraft') were criticized for some inaccuracies, but with The Wall down, increasing interest and the internet, information has been freely exchanged, compared, added to, and sometimes hotly debated *, making these among the best as far as a succinct, comprehensive, illustrated, read. I have over 100 of them.*Indeed, in the last few years, I've read that Bob Johnson's famous FW190 encounter may have been exaggerated, according to fellow 8th AF ace, Gerald Johnson... And according to Ruffato/Claringbould's very researched, detailed, and illustrated "Eagles of the Southern Sky -The Tainan AG in WWII", Saburo Sakai's famous "Danse Macabre" with Nishizawa (top IJN ace) & Ohta, may have never happened! (Although both Johnson and Sakai are certainly confirmed as outstanding combat pilots)

Japan produced some outstanding naval aircraft for the Second World War. Especially notable were the Kate torpedo bomber and its successor the Jill. Authors Mark Chambers and Tony Holmes have wrapped a concise but fascinating account of carrier battles around this aviation history of the two torpedo bombers."Nakajima B5N Kate And B6N Jill Units" is an Osprey Combat Aircraft Series book. It introduces the development of the Kate torpedo bomber and describes its use in the Pearl Harbor campaign and follow-on campaigns at Midway, the Aleutians, and the Solomon Islands. By war's end, the Kate and its successor the Jill were often land-based, and finally relegated to kamikaze use as Japan's Navy dwindled. The narrative is nicely supported by a terrific collection of period photographs and color plates of the variations in the aircraft types.Of most interest to this reviewer were the recaps of the carrier fights, especially Midway but including the often overlooked Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, a costly Japanese victory. The book is highly recommended to students of the conflict as providing a good look at the Kate and Jill torpedo bombers and the context in which they were used.

Highly detailed discussion of B5N and B6N units and their operations throughout the Pacific. The weakness of the book is the short discussion of the development history of these airplanes. There are also no tabulations of dimensions or performance characteristics. That's not necessarily a problem, as there are other books (such as Francillon's) that provide such data. But it would have been convenient to have such data available while reading this book. It wouldn't have taken more than a couple of pages and tables to provide such information.There is also only a very short discussion on industrial production and the relatively low numbers produced. Only a little over a thousand B5Ns were produced and only a few hundred B6Ns. The book doesn't explain why this was so: did the Navy leadership not comprehend the need for larger numbers? Was industry unable to provide more -- and if so, why was that the case?

This is a very decent book on the topic, however I have some complaints. Several sections about the overview of operations/battles seem like a rehash from "Aichi 99 Kanbaku 'Val' Units" by Osamu Tagaya. I also wish there were more technical details about the aircraft and particularly its equipment. There is no detailed or structured information about the bomb/torpedo racks and possible combinations of bombs that could be carried. There are no details about the cockpit equipment that was used, such as configuration of cockpit, navigational aid devices, bomb sight, mechanisms, etc. However, the book still gives a nice overview of the aircraft and its history of operations.

This helpful book not only had the details of the “Kate” torpedo bomber but also a thorough and well-written history of its service. I regretted few details of how the rear two seats went about their roles, details about the gun and fuel loads. However, students of the IJN and the Pacific War can benefit from this book. Excellent renderings.

Typical Osprey book. I was hoping for a little more on the Jill units, it leans heavily on the B5N2 at Coral Sea, Midway, and Santa Cruz, but then almost nothing about the Jill at the Marianas Turkey Shoot and later operations. Still one of the better books on the subject.

This is a wonderful volume to own. To have this information in English makes this book something of a gift. To have it all wrapped up in a book from Osprey you know you're getting a top notch selection.

Very interesting addition to my reading on WW2 aircraft. Not much has been written recently on either of these Japanese torpedo bombers, especially the Jill. This book fills a void, especially the operational history of the two airplanes.

How you rate this book comes down to whether or not you have read Osamu Tagaya's outstandingly excellent accounts of Val Units and Betty Units from the same series. If you haven't then this very nicely produced title with its ten pages of attractive side views in colour, looks like the bee's knees. However, if you have read Osamu Tagaya's books then you will find this account a major let-down: not even close to being in the same league.Rather than addressing the key points around the Kate (and Jill) and dealing in detail with the doctrine and experiences of the units that used these aircraft we are instead served up yet another potted cod-history of carrier actions throughout the Pacific War, and large chunks of that, duly acknowledged in this booklet, are drawn from other Osprey titles and Fuchida's autobiography. (Perhaps publishers think this acceptable and readers won’t notice?)The Kate and Jill were designed for torpedo-dropping and medium altitude horizontal bombing of shipping as their primary roles. Secondary roles were: reconnaissance, flare-dropping for night illumination, close air support of landing forces, and bombing static installations (naval bases, airfields, anything else). A useful and convenient multi-role aircraft to field alongside dedicated dive-bombers and single-engine fighters. That’s a lot of ground to cover even for an author having a good overall appreciation of the subject.We have always known that the Kate excelled as a torpedo-bomber. However, after reading this title how the Kate performed as a horizontal bomber against ships under way largely remains a continuing mystery. From this account you might think that the sinking of the destroyer USS Pope on 1st March 1942 (p.30) was accomplished by Kates whilst the ship was under control, moving and fighting back. Go research elsewhere and it turns out the mortal damage was inflicted by Vals. Kates only despatched the vessel when it was stopped and already abandoned by its crew.Kates used as medium altitude horizontal bombers dealt out fearful execution to ships at anchor, or beached. A point that is well brought out here is that it had only been possible to attack the ships in the inner line of Battleship Row at Pearl Harbour using horizontal bombing. The Kates performed that task superbly. However, the reality is that most probably no Kate ever hit with a bomb from medium altitude any naval vessel that was under way, and maybe only a handful of merchantmen that were moving were hit by Kates in horizontal bombing. Or maybe even that never happened? You won’t find that answer here.In part, that is because even the dimension of whether a ship was under way or stopped when it was attacked by Kate horizontal bombers is often missing from this account. For instance on p.24, were the USS William B Preston at Davao on 8-Dec-41 and the unnamed British tanker nearby on 20-Dec attacked when under way or when anchored? Was the tanker hit? Ditto for the freighter Herstein at Rabaul (p.25): was it stopped, hit or sunk or not? Were the ships mentioned at Colombo on p.31 halted or moving? What about the merchantmen sunk soon after at sea in the Bay of Bengal? The writing is sloppy and imprecise.In the last case one might assume that they were moving but had they been Val-ed first? Was a deliberate set of tactics being applied here? Reserve torpedoes to attack larger warships: cruisers and above. (There is a hint of that in the account of the attack on H.M.S. Exeter described at p.26.) For lesser vessels and merchantmen use the lighter bombs of the dive-bombers to damage the ship enough to bring it to a halt then once it was stopped administer the coup de grace using a few Kates. Maybe?Mr Chambers fails to tell us. Maybe because he actually has no understanding of the IJN tactical doctrine that underpinned the equipment and training of the Kate units? It certainly appears that any appreciation of the differences between the challenges and the success rates of attacking ships at rest (possible and often successful with Kates) and vessels that are under way (mostly a complete waste of time and bombs) has completely passed him by.Easily tested even in peacetime, the almost complete ineffectiveness of horizontal bombing from an altitude beyond the reach of light AA was most of the reason dive-bombing was adopted by the US and Japanese navies in the first place. [Billy Mitchell had only bombed moored battleships from low altitude.] It was the non-naval air forces that, with the notable exception of the Luftwaffe, still put their (untested and blind) faith in the effectiveness of the horizontal bombing of ships at sea. At one point the USAAF claimed their B-17s to have destroyed the Japanese carriers at Midway because their bombing photographs showed nice clusters of big white clouds coming from the Japanese ships. (Actually bombs exploding in the sea.) In the Mediterranean, Admiral Cunningham remarked on the excellent grouping of the splashes around his ships as the dedicated SM 79 anti-shipping units of the Regia Aeronautica also failed to ever land a bomb on any of his ships in horizontal bombing. It was simple for warships to evade horizontal bombing using common-sense tactics. It was the dive bombers and later, the skip-bombers that were deadly, but both techniques forced the attacker to fly through the defensive fire of their target. That became expensive when the target vessel was well defended.I bought this book because I wanted learn whether Kate units performed any better in the horizontal bombing role than the USAAF and the Italians. If anyone was going to do it better it would have been the IJNAF. But answer came there none and that was disappointing.Unfortunately, it also takes more than a dive into the records at College Park, Maryland and Maxwell Air Force Base to turn out a good book on either of the Japanese Air Forces. Any visit to a large bookstore in Japan reveals there is a wealth of surviving information available, some of it astonishingly detailed. (The names of every crew member taking part in the Pearl Harbour attacks by flight position.) Until we have convincing historical accounts in English written by competent Japanese speakers we will be stuck with superficial tomes such as this. Nicely turned out but only a wee bit useful and that only because so little else is actually available on the subject in English.Osamu Tagaya, we need more from you and your fellows please.

A peripheral subject, I am interested in the USN and its Japanese opponents. Osprey is great for giving me the launch pad to delve deeper if I want to, but also provide me with the level of detail I need.

This is a good book about the Japanese Navy Torpedo Bomber AC used through the WWII.In the book there is some 30 coloured profile drawings and description for these. What I missed is the 1/72 scale line drawings.... what was in the early parts of the series... That’s why I gave the 4 stars... I do not know about any books which were written about the operational history of these types. Recommended for those who are interested in these warbirds but the modelleres will be disapointed... there is no close up, walkaround pics... just b/w photos.

Obviously well researched with an overwhelmingimpression of the Japanese Carrier strike force,certainly in the early part of the Pacific war,being an awesome roving attack group.Just really enjoyed this book because it was so very interesting.

Just a great book