The Mitsubishi G3M Model 11 had a crew of five, could carry up to 800 Kg (1763.7 lb) of bombs carried externally under the fuselage or a single torpedo (as the specification made by the Imperial Japanese Navy - IJN - requested) capable of sinking an armoured battleship.
Just like the Ka-15 its defensive armament consisted on two retractable dorsal turrets equipped with a single 0.303in Type 92 machine gun plus another retractable ventral one. These turrets were initially "flat topped", however, in later versions, some of them were retroactively fitted with a "cupola shaped" one, typical of the G3M2.
It was powered by two Mitsubishi Kinsei 3 engines, rated at 898 hp each.
Although it flew for the first time, as the Ka-15 (see our previous post) in 1935, in a flight taking off from Mitsubishi's private airfield in Nagasaki and landing at Haneda airport, close to Tokyo, it wasn't until 1937 that the G3M was employed in combat. It was employed, albeit in smaller numbers than its successor the G3M2, in the Japanese expansionists campaigns on the Chinese mainland, known as the Second Sino-Japanese War. During this campaign, the G3M1 exploited their long-range capabilities when aircraft belonging to the 1. Rengo Kokutai (a special unit) was set up together with Kanoya and Kisarazu Kokutais based at Taipei in Formosa and Omura, Kyushu and Jeju islands in western Japan, though Jeju nowadays belongs to south Korea.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_G3M
2. http://all-aero.com/index.php/contactus/53-planes-l-m-n-o/6919-mitsubishi-g3m--ka-15--l3y
3. https://www.valka.cz/Micubisi-G3M1c-11C-Nell-t1283
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