% of hits from leval Bombing

[Brady]

Hi- Trying to get a feel for % of hits from different level bombing runs by Kates and Nell's (really anything) against moving and stationary ships:


Good examples might be how many of the Kates at pearl hit with there bombs against Stationary targets in the harbor?

Nell's that sank the largely

Nell's and there 500kg bombs against the Pow And Repulse

[robdab]

Zimms book on PH has data on level bombing attack results as well as what was achieved during training for that attack

[OpanaPointer]

Concur on Zimm.

[Takao]

You also have to remember that the Japanese level-bombers bombed in formation, so you are going to be looking at the percentage of hits for the formation...And not the percentage of hits for individual pilots.

IIRC, "Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power, 1909-1941" by Mark R. Peattie, also has something to say on the subject.

[Brady]

Thanks guys, the TROMS also provided some information as well, one thing that was largely absent from the TROM's was the altitude at which they dropped the bombs from, it seams the Planes (Kates) at Pear dropped from about 10,000 ft.


Example:
Following sighting by a MOGAMI floatplane 15 G3M2s from Genzai Kokutai and 10 B5N1s armed with 1 250 kg and four 60 kg bombs each from RYUJO seek out and attack Dutch Destroyer VAN NES escorting troop transport SLOET VAN DE BEELE carrying troops from Oosthaven to Java. The transport is dispatched by the land-based bombers by a direct hit within five minutes. Arriving around 1630 RYUJO's planes go after the destroyer. After evading several bombs, VAN NES is hit by three bombs and at about 1700 breaks in half abaft the second stack and sinks rapidly. Of her crew of 143, 68 are lost while 52 sailors are later rescued by a Dutch Dornier Do 24 and taken to Tandjong Priok, Java. VAN NES was the first allied warship sunk by Japanese carrier planes since Pearl Harbor





I bought the book... (zimm)

[robdab]

I hope that you enjoy Zimm ... just one caution though ... he goes into great detail about just how many of the PH oil storage tanks might have been bombed/burned by an alternative IJN air attack BUT he grossly OVERestimates (or his in house "expert" does ?) the actual construction details of those tanks ... which can be found on the internet ... leading to a very conservative UNDERestimate of the damage which Nagumo might easily have inflicted on the entire Oahu fuel supply of the US Pacific Fleet ... and he also neglected to include the civilian ship's fuel oil stored in the Honolulu Harbor tankfarm, which Japanese merchant vessels had been drawing on for decades for their trans-Pacific voyages ... and the 2 large harbor side fuel oil tanks belonging to Oahu's electrical power generating company ... it seems that no one author is ever perfect ...