Aichi D-3A “VAL”

The Aichi D-3A “Val” was designed in 1936 as a carrier dive bomber to replace the outdated Aichi D-1A “Susie”. In 1939 the first deliveries to the Japanese Navy began, and quickly start its qualification to integrate them into the Akagi and Kaga aircraft carriers air groups in 1940. They participated in all naval battles of the first year of the Pacific War with an outstanding effectiveness. The “Vals” were in the Pearl Harbor’s attack and in the raids against the British fleet in the Indian Ocean, where they sank the heavy cruisers, HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire,along with the HMS Hermes aircraft carrier on April 5, 1942. From 1943 they were relegated to training and school missions, although they had an outstanding final as kamikaze aircraft at the end of the war. They were the aircrafts that more allied ships sank, reason why it is possible to say that it was a successful model in the Imperial Japanese Navy.

D-3A “VAL” gallery and more info