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| IJN 582 Kōkūtai or 552 Kōkūtai |
Aircraft History Built by Aichi and completed by the middle of December 1943. Uncoded serial number 520. At the factory, painted with dark green upper surfaces and gray lower surfaces. Delivered to the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as Type 99 Carrier Bomber Kanbaku / D3A2 Model 22 Val manufacture number 1520. Wartime History Assigned to 582 Kōkūtai (582 Air Group) or 552 Kōkūtai (552 Air Group). No known tail code. This Val operated from Rabaul. Mission History Between December 15, 1943 to December 31, 1943 this Val took off from Rabaul on a dive bombing mission against the U.S. Army beachhead at Arawe (Cape Merkus) or U.S. Navy vessels offshore. Over the target, shot down by anti-aircraft fire or U.S. fighters. During these raids, the Japanese lost a total of twenty Vals. Wreckage This Val crashed on land. During 2007, the tail wheel assembly and some wing structure remained at the crash site. Mark Reichman adds: "Not much there but the tail wheel and some wing structure. By the time we got to the site, we only had 15 minutes to snap pictures as we had to hike back to a timber company road to meet a truck to take us back to the Pulie River. We heard or other pieces in the area that may be parts of this plane." References Serial Number & Production Sequence D3A2 Carrier Bombers by Jim Long Kodochosho, 552 Kōkūtai, December 17-31, 1942 Kodochosho, 582 Kōkūtai, December 15-31, 1942 D3A2 Val crew members lost December 15-27, 1943 by Justin Taylan Thanks to Mark Reichman and Hiteoshi Toshi for additional information Contribute
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