The Ship-Destroying Duo As Vital As The Zero: Aichi D3A & Nakajima B5N

In this video we take a look a two planes, the Aichi D3A dive bomber and Nakajima B5N torpedo bomber, two planes from World War II-era Imperial Japan that formed a devastating duo in the early stages of the Pacific War. We first talk about how torpedo and dive bombers are not remembered as much as your typical frontline fighters and bombers, before talking about Japan's effort to modernize their stable of carrier-based aircraft in the mid-1930's. We talk about the 10-shi and 11-shi design competitions, their competitors, and how they mirrored one another.

We then talk about the early combat experience of the D3A and B5N in the Sino-Japanese War, before moving on to their excellent performance in the beginning of WW2, with the duo proving to be a deadly combination for American and British ships. We talk about some of their general tactics, before then talking about how their performance and dominance began to fade. We talk about their proposed successors and how they failed to fully replace them, before ending by talking about the overall importance of the D3A and B5N alongside the A6M Zero.