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  D4Y1 Judy Manufacture Number 3193 Tail 01-070
IJN
501 Kōkūtai

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USMC May 12, 1944

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Jim Lansdale 1992

Aircraft History
Built by Yokosuka during October 1943, as the 193rd D4Y1 built. At the factory painted with green upper surfaces and gray lower surfaces. Delivered to the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as Type 2 Carrier Recon-Dive Bomber Suisei / D4Y (Judy) manufacture number 3193.

Wartime History
Assigned to the 501 Kōkūtai (501 Air Group) with tail number 01-070 in white with a horizontal line below the number in a white. This Judy was abandoned at Hoskins Airfield on New Britain.

Wreckage
During early May 1944, captured when U.S. Marines from the 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) occupied the area. On May 12, 1944 the intact Judy was photographed from the left side showing the tail number and front.

Afterwards, the tail was recovered and later taken to the United States. At one time, displayed at Florence Air and Missile Museum in Florence, SC until the museum closed in 1997. The fate of the rest of the Judy is unknown, likely scrapped or otherwise disappeared.

Jim Long adds:
"No. 3193 was misidentified as a D4Y2 in at least one earlier publication in the FAOW series (blue-cover series). It had a profile painting of the plane as a D4Y2 with the tail marking being rendered in yellow a guess, no doubt. The tail fin from this plane was salvaged and brought to the U.S., details unknown. For years it resided in a small (private?) museum in Florence, South Carolina, that researcher Ken Glass told me about. In 1999, Ken sent me some color photos of the fin that he had taken in 1997, but these photos did not give a proper impression of the color of the paint. The paint has been described as a dark olive green camouflage finish by Robert C. Mikesh, Jim Lansdale and by Ken, himself. But Ken's 1997 prints made the color look more like an olive drab, more dirty brown than green. The current custodian and the current whereabouts of the fin from No. 3193 are unknowns."

Jim Lansdale adds:
"I examined this tail in a small museum few years ago. It is now defunct and I wonder what happened to the tail. The color was D1/D2 black-green. Director Thomas C. Griffin loaned me and Bob Mikesh a piece of the this Aichi constructed D4Y1, s/n 3193, to examine."

References
FAOW No. 69/1998-3, pages 42, 60
Setting Suns (2007) page 16
Thanks to Jim Lansdale, Jim Long and Richard Dunn for additional information

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Last Updated
August 30, 2023

 

Tech Info
Judy
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