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| IJN Zuikaku Air Group
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Aircraft History Built by Aichi completed on February 14, 1942. Delivered to the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as Type 99 Carrier Bomber / Ku Ku Kamba (Kanbaku) / D3A1 Model 11 Val manufacture number 3381. Wartime History Assigned to Zuikaku Air Group aboard Zuikaku. No known tail code unknown. Mission History On May 8, 1942 during the Battle of the Coral Sea took off on a dive bombing mission against U.S. Navy (USN) aircraft carriers. Returning, this Val force landed on eastern Sudest Island (Tagula). Both crew survived the landing unhurt and were able to radio their location. Rescue Afterwards, a Japanese destroyer possibly Shiratsuyu was notified of the downed air crew. Before the destroyer could arrive, on May 9, 1942 a seaplane from the Kamikawa Maru rescued both crew. Jim Sawruk adds: "[April 2020] I have been doing some Coral Sea work and have uncovered a radio message about the pickup of a D3A crew at Tagula. As such, I have to revise what I previously said about D3A Model 11 VAL 3381. It is a ZUIKAKU machine and the crew was rescued unharmed by a floatplane from Kamikawa Maru. The messages about this aircraft are very confusing to say the least and I should have known this as they were trying to account for a bunch of crews." Wreckage During July 1942 the wreckage was inspected by the Australian Army and the manufacture number and date of manufacture were noted. Lt Mac Rich, Lousiade Archipelago Patrol diary: May 25, 1942: "Accompanied by Sgt. Rice, one of our landing party and the three launch boys, made an early start punching into a fresh S.E. and after a slow trip arrived at Cape Siri, the most easterly point of Sudest Island at 1.pm. Here on account of the shallow water had to anchor nearly half a mile from the shore line and wide ashore, then another half mile through scrub to a grass patch where we found the remains of a Japanese two seater single engine plane. This according to the identification booklet issued to the troops was Japanese 99 [D3A1 Val]. The cockpit and engine section had been burnt out and the local natives informed us later that the day after it crash landed a Japanese sea-plane had landed on the lagoon and picked up the two airmen, apparently unhurt." Allied intelligence noted the wreck as; "AD 5 Val Mk1 3381 crashed 8 May 1942". References Previously, it was believed this Val was assigned to Shokaku, in fact it was assigned to Zuikaku. Kodochosho, Zuikaku, May 8, 1942 CEAR "Japanese Aircraft Makers' Plates and Markings", page 17 Another wartime reference notes a wreck as (likely this same wreck): "A6M2 Zero: located at the eastern tip of the island, near East Point (this reference is possibly D3A1 Val 3381) Wartime reference: S 11° 37 E 153° 47" Lt Mac Rich, Lousiade Archipelago Patrol diary: May 25, 1942 Thanks to Jim Sawruk, John Douglas, Osamu Tagaya and Minoru Kamada for additional information Contribute
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