Yokusuka P1Y1 Ginga Type 11 by Hasegawa
1/72 scale
Kit No. 02285
Cost: $45.00
Decals: Two versions – both for Imperial Japanese Navy
Comments: Engraved panel lines, highly detailed radial engines, metal parts for radar array and multiple 20mm gun barrels
(Editor’s Note: While Hasegawa refers to the manufacturer as Kugisho, often used interchangeably with Yokosuka, and Nakajima was the prime contractor for this aircraft, the design and engineering of the P1Y1 were undertaken and completed by the First Naval Air Technical Arsenal based at Yokosuka, Japan, a facility intimately acquainted with all research and development of aircraft for the Imperial Japanese Navy during WWII. For this reason, this post will refer the P1Y1 as a Yokosuka aircraft)
History
While the Japanese military had twin-engined fighters during World War II from the Fall of 1942 on, it was not until 1944 that the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) had a dedicated twin-engine bomber in the form the Yokosuka P1Y1 Ginga (Milky Way). The development of the Ginga began in 1940 when the Dai-Ichi Kaigun Koku Gijitsusho (First Naval Air Technical Arsenal), responsible for research and development for the IJN) issued requirements for an experimental twin-engine bomber that could engage in low-altitude attacks, combined with torpedo and dive-bombing capability. The plan was to produce an aircraft equivalent to the Junkers Ju 88, which had seen action in limited numbers during Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland, and the North American B-25 Mitchell then in development in the United States.
An engineering team led by Tadanao Mitsuzi and Masao Yamana designed an extremely clean, twin-engine aircraft with a narrow circular fuselage and mid-mounted wings. It was to have a pair of new 18-cyclinder radial engines, the Nakajima Homare, which itself was still being designed at the time, but was expected to deliver a top speed of 345 mph. The wings were to have both protected and unprotected fuel tanks totaling 1,218 Imperial gallons, with an option for drop tanks of 48 Imperial gallons each.
Armor protection was limited to a single 20mm plate behind the pilot’s head, and defensive armament, a single flexibly mounted machine gun in the nose and another in the rear cockpit, was inadequate by 1943 standards. The P1Y1 would rely solely on its speed to evade interception. Since Nakajima’s manufacture of the Mitsubishi Type 96 attack bomber (the “Nell”) was scheduled to end in February 1943, the Navy decided that its assembly lines would switch over to the Ginga.
When the prototype flew for the first time in August 1943, confidence in its performance was so high that Nakajima went directly from prototype manufacture to full production. Forty-five aircraft were delivered in 1943 with total production increasing to 453 before the IJN finally accepted the type for service in October 1944.
Nakajima had jumped the gun; the serviceability and reliability of the new bomber were sub-standard, and for a time it appeared the Navy had been saddled with a lemon. In fairness, during flight testing the Ginga’s high speed and ease of handling were a source of praise from test pilots and naval aviators alike. But the ground crews who had considerable difficulty servicing its troublesome hydraulic system and unreliable, as-yet-unproven engines did not share this enthusiasm. Maintenance problems caused many difficulties under even ideal conditions (which would not prevail in the field) and led the Imperial Navy to delay the Ginga’s debut with front-line units for over a year.
Multiple modifications occurred in the interim: Replacement of the prototype’s curved windshield with a flat, bulletproof screen; Homare 12-cylinder radial engines of 1,825 hp replaced the 18-cylinder versions; new cowlings with individual exhaust stacks replacing the original single exhaust pipe; replacing the 7.7mm machine gun in the nose with a flexible 20mm cannon, and when production allowed, switching out the slow-firing 20mm with single or twin mountings of 13mm Type 2 machine guns. Late production models would also be fitted with air-to-sea search radar.
The Ginga would not be committed to combat operations until early Spring 1945, but upon its baptism of fire it more than justified the Navy’s highest expectations, even with the still-unreliable Homare 12 engines. Employed as a Kamikaze weapon during the Okinawa campaign, it quickly earned the respect of the Western Allies, who dubbed it “Frances.” The subject of this kit, the P1Y1-S Kyokko (“Aurora”) was a nightfigher modification fitted with the same Mitsubishi Kasei 14-cylinder radial engines that powered Mitsubishi’s late-war J2M Raiden fighter, as well as radar and ventrally-mounted Schrag-Musik style 20mm cannon, angled to fire downward and forward, primarily for use against American B-29 night raiders. This was a potentially devastating weapon but its engines suffered from poor performance at high altitude, and the 96 examples modified for night operations were ultimately converted back to their standard bomber configuration (the P1Y2).
Production of the Ginga totaled over 1,000 by August 1945. Modifications and experiments with the P1Y airframe continued throughout the war, with one proposed version, the P1Y3, in development for use as a mother ship for the rocket-powered Ohka Model 22, the most fearsome of Japan’s Kamikaze weapons. Neither of these new weapons would see service; the P1Y3 would have been an improvement over the slower Mitsubishi G4M “Betty” bombers that were actually used as mother ships, often with disastrous results, but it was still on the drawing board at war’s end. And while 50 examples of the Model 22 were built, their flight testing program was still incomplete as of August 9, 1945.
The P1Y1 Ginga Type 11 might have been a truly effective air weapon, but suffered from an unreliable powerplant and ongoing competition between the Japanese Army and Navy for resources and labor, compounded by a lack of comprehensive government oversight as to who would get what, a situation which only grew more acute as the war progressed. It remains an impressive attempt at fast bomber and nightfighter design that fell just short of its promise.
A P1Y1 in flames after being hit by anti-aircraft fire during its Kamikaze attack on December 15, 1944, likely during the Battle of Ormac Bay in the Phillipines. FM-2 Wildcat fighters on the deck of the escort carrier U.S.S. Ommany Bay are in the foreground.
The Kit
Hasegawa’s Kugisho P1Y1 Ginga Type 11 fast bomber/nightfighter is injection molded in grey plastic and consists of 85 parts, four of which are clear plastic for the cockpit greenhouse and nose. Released in 2018, this kit is a re-issue of Hasegawa’s P1Y1 Ginga first released with new tooling in 1995, updated with new parts consistent with the “Numerous Guns Equipment” designation. This is in part a reference to the ten turned-metal parts representing 20mm gun barrels for the nightfighter version the kit depicts, parts that are contained in a separate small, clear plastic bag.
The Japanese version of the “Schrag-Musik” armament was based on equivalent weaponry fitted to Germany’s Dornier Do 217 and Ju 88 nightfighters to counter Allied night bombing, but instead of firing upwards, they were ventrally mounted to fire down at a 30-degree angle. This required good performance at altitude of the aircraft carrying the weapons, for they would have to get above high flying four-engined bombers to bring the guns to bear.
The kit is crisply molded with engraved panel lines, and where appropriate, flush rivet detail. The cockpit features a floor with raised detail, three individual seats for the aircrew, with the pilot’s having the most detailed molding, and a control yoke. Decals are available for the otherwise plain main and side instrument panels. The fuselage interior halves feature no internal sidewall detail, but that is unlikely to be missed in this scale.
Despite the extensive glazing in the nose, there is no real detail in the forward most section of the cabin, where a bombardier-nose gunner would have been stationed in the bomber version. A seat is provided in the forward section for this position just ahead of and below the pilot, with the bombardier serving as the gunner controlling the array of 20mm cannon in the Ginga’s belly on nightfighter missions, since the pilot would have a poor view of what was ahead of and immediately below the plane.
The Ginga’s injection molded radial engines are so meticulously detailed that they could be mistaken for resin, and feature separate crankcases. The engine cowlings, like the rest of the airframe, feature engraved panel lines, as well as nicely detailed radiator scoops and multiple exhaust vents. The propellers are very well proportioned with realistic shape, although the landing gear are unremarkable. What would be the bomb bay doors on Hasegawa’s other versions of the Ginga is a single part, to be cemented in place on the belly. Accordingly, there are no parts for an internal bomb bay, and although this is the nightfighter version, there are two examples of what appear to be 750 kg bombs on the sprues — quality left-overs for your spares box.
The kit presents a bit of a challenge for modelers in that the single part for the bomb bay doors is to be drilled through with a pin vise (at a 30-degree angle, mind you) to accommodate the ten metal 20mm gun barrels, which must be cemented in place to protrude through each hole before the bomb bay door (Part A2) is cemented to the belly. The real challenge will not be the drilling, but doing it so that the holes are a uniform distance from each other and from the edges of the door part. Fortunately, an illustration with precise measurements is provided. In the final stages of construction, the two radar aerials must be cemented to the nose and to the sides of the fuselage at a point just aft of its mid-section.
Markings
Decals are provided for two Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft, both of which are machines of the 765th Naval Flying Group, 401st Attack Squadron during March of 1945, and feature a paint scheme of (Nakajima) IJN Green over silver or natural metal with the cowlings painted — according to the instructions — “Cowling Color” — this is likely Semi-Gloss Black. The key difference between the two aircraft is the serial number on the tail, for they are outwardly identical in all other respects. What is unusual about the decals is that they include yellow markings for the leading edges of the wings — typically manufacturers leave modelers to paint the leading edges themselves. The instructions call out Gunze Sangyo paint colors.
Conclusion
This is an excellent, highly detailed kit of what might have been (but for its problematic powerplant) a truly deadly Japanese nightfighter. Highly recommended.
References
- Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War by R.J. Francillon; Copyright Putnam & Company, London, 1970.
- www.militaryfactory.com
- military.wikia.org
