Mitsubishi G4M, part two

 

The Mitsubishi G4M, when used against fixed ground targets like supply depots, naval ports or airfields, it was a much harder target to intercept. Owing to its long range and high speed, the G4M could appear from any direction, and be gone before any fighter intercepted them. The 20 mm Type 99 cannon present at the tail was a much heavier defensive weapon for the time and made attacks from the rear quite dangerous. Sometimes, if they were not hit (and caught fire) in the wings' fuel tanks, by anti-air fire or by machine gun bullets from an enemy fighter, they proved to remain airborne despite being heavily damaged. An example of this sturdiness showed when four G4M attacked the American Heavy Cruiser USS Chicago (CA-29) on 30th January 1943, and three of the four surviving G4Ms returned to their bases flying on one engine only. 

The most famous action of the war performed by an G4M was the torpedo attack on the Battleship HMS Prince on Wales (53) and Battlecruiser HMS Repulse (34) off the Eastern shore of Malaya, shortly after Pearl Harbor, on 10th December 1941. The G4M stroke together with older G3M bombers which made high-level bombing rounds. HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse were the first two capital ships to be sunk exclusively by aerial attacks during a war while in open waters. The G4Ms belonged to the Kanoya Kokutai (Kanoya Air Group), Genzan Kokutai and Mihoro Kokutai. All these groups were trained in low-level torpedo attacks (less than 10 m -30 ft- high) and in long-range over-ocean navigation, so they could hit naval targets while moving quickly at sea. 

G4Ms were employed later for attacking Allied shipping and land targets during the six-months-long Guadalcanal Campaign, in the Solomon Islands in late 1942. More than 100 G4M1s and their crew were lost, with few replacements available, during the many battles around Guadalcanal area, from August to October 1942. On 8th August 1942, during the second days of American Marine landings on the island, 23 Imperial Japanese Navys (IJN) G4M1s attacked American ships at Lunga point, but 18 of them were shot down by heavy anti-air fire or carrier-based Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters. A total of 18 Japanese crews (120 aviators) were lost at Lunga Point. 

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_G4M

2. https://www.valka.cz/topic/view/1284

3. Bunrin Do - Famous Airplanes Of The World 59 - Mitsubishi G4M Betty (translated as much as we could)