Offered by Over The Blue Horizon is a vintage Famous Airplanes of the World (FAOW) Black Cover volume on one of Japan’s most capable aircraft of early World War II: FAOW #33  “TYPE 99 CARRIER DIVE-BOMBER” better known in the West as the AICHI D3A VAL.

 

Although already obsolescent at the beginning of WWII, the AICHI D3A VAL with fixed spatted landing gear was the first Japanese aircraft to drop bombs on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Designed to a 1936 carrier-based dive-bomber requirement, early production D3A1s were powered by the 1000 hp Mitsubishi Kinsei 43 radial which gave it a top speed of 240 mph with 814 lb bomb load.  Following limited land-based operations in China and Indo-China, D3As were flown in all major carrier actions during the first 10 months of the war and sank more Allied naval vessels than any other Axis aircraft, among them the HMS Hermes -- the world's first carrier to be sunk by carrier-based aircraft.  Heavy losses among D3A1s during and after the Battle of the Coral Sea, however, forced withdrawal by most of the survivors to land bases. In 1942, the improved D3A2 was introduced with increased fuel capacity and more powerful engine, but by 1943 the aircraft were hopelessly outclassed by American fighters; a small number was subsequently employed in kamikaze attacks.

 

The FAOW series began publication in the late 1960s and are highly illustrated monographs focusing on a specific aircraft or family of aircraft.  Text is in Japanese, but the photographs, scale line drawings, cut-away drawings, cockpit diagrams, close-up detail drawings and profiles help transcend the written word and have appealed to aircraft researchers and advanced modelers to this day.  The formats and covers have slightly changed over the years.  Originally, the FAOW covers were White and beginning in 1971, changed to Blue.  In 1979, the FAOW covers changed to a Chart or Graph-paper background, and then in 1986, changed to the current Black Cover series. 

 

This 7.25 x 10.25 inch softcover with dustjacket is 88 pages long with numerous b/w photographs, line drawings, a nicely-done color fold-out, and color profiles.  Condition is GOOD/GOOD+ with shelf wear to the dustjacket.  Note that Over the Blue Horizon ships from the USA with FREE United States Postal Service (USPS) Priority or First Class shipping to USA buyers! eBay charges sales tax for certain states; Over the Blue Horizon charges Hawaii residents state general excise tax. Your purchase will be carefully wrapped to ensure that it arrives in the same condition as described in the eBay listing.  If you are not happy with your purchase for whatever reason, we will work something out -- your satisfaction is GUARANTEED.  Regardless of where you are in the world, buy with confidence from a well-established eBay merchant with a sterling reputation and an exceptionally high customer satisfaction rate.