Comments:
Softcover, 96 pages,
black-and-white photos, 10 pages of color profiles
ISBN 978-1-4728-1874-4
Price: $23
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
From the publisher: Entering service during the Sino-Japanese War, the Nakajima B5N (Allied code-name “Kate”) excelled and went on to achieve surprising and dramatic successes in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It also contributed to the sinking of the U.S. aircraft carriers USS Lexington at the Battle of the Coral Sea, USS Yorktown at the Battle of Midway, and USS Hornet at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. Its replacement, the Nakajima B6N “Jill,” was a marked improvement but was never able to achieve the success of its predecessor due to advances in Allied aircraft — though it played a grim role in the dreaded kamikaze strikes of the latter part of the war.
Using previously unpublished photographs as well as color illustrations, this book covers the history, design, and development of these Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo-bombers as well as their combat highs and lows.
FSM says: Firsthand accounts provide deep background on the operation and tactics of the torpedo-bomber aircraft that cut such a wide swath early in the war and were blunted after the element of surprise was gone and opposing technology appeared.