Length: 12"
Code: NC10180
The G4M was similar in performance and missions to other contemporary twin-engine bombers such as the German Junkers Ju 88 and Heinkel He 111, and the American B-25 Mitchell, and B-26 Marauder. These were all commonly used in the anti-shipping role. The G4M Model 11 was prominent in attacks on Allied shipping in the 1941 to early 1944 time-frame, but beyond that time, it was increasingly the easy prey of the ever-improving enemy fighters.
The G4M's baptism by fire occurred on 13 September 1940 in Mainland China, when 27 "Bettys" and Mitsubishi C5Ms of 1st Rengo Kokutai (a composite force including elements of Kanoya and Kizarazu Kokutais) departed from Taipei, Omura and Cheju to attack Hankow. The bombers and reconnaissance aircraft were escorted by 13 A6M Zeros of 12st Kokutai led by Navy Lieutenant Saburo Shindo. A similar operation occurred in May 1941. In December 1941, 120 Taiwan-based G4Ms of 1st Kokutai and Kanoya Kokutai belonging to the 21st Koku Sentai crossed the Luzon Strait en route to bombing the Philippines, the beginning to widespread Southeast Asia operations.
As torpedo bombers, the G4M's most notable use was in the sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse off the coast of Malaya on 10 December 1941. They carried out the attacks alongside the older Japanese bombers, the Mitsubishi G3M "Nells" who were doing high-level bombing runs. The battleship Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Repulse were the first two capital ships ever to be sunk exclusively by air attack during a war, while at sea. Those bomber crews were a handful of selected Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force (IJNAF) aviators in prewar Japan, who had skills not only in torpedo-attacking at less than 9 m (30 ft) high but also in being able to navigate long-range flight over the ocean to spot a pinpoint target moving fast on the sea. The same squadrons in Kanoya Air Group (751 Ku), Genzan Air Group (753 Ku) and Mihoro Air Group (701 Ku), which sunk the British capital battle ships, later staged an extended series of attacks against American ships and land targets in Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, late 1942.
On 8 August 1942, the second day of US Marine's landing at Guadalcanal, IJNAF's 23 G4M1s conducted a torpedo attack against American ships at Lunga point, Guadalcanal. 18 of the attacking G4M1s were lost, due to extraordinarily heavy antiaircraft fire and air cover from F4F Wildcat fighters. In all, 18 Japanese crews of approximately 120 aviators were missing in the beginning of the month. Over 100 Japanese G4M1s and their best crews with no substitute were thoroughly lost in the following battles of Guadalcanal, from August-October 1942. In two days of the Battle of Rennell Island on 29 and 30 January 1943, 10 out of 43 Japanese G4M1s were lost in the night torpedo-attacks, again to American anti-aircraft fire. About 70 Japanese aviators, including Lieutenant Commander Higai, were killed in action.
Probably the best-known incident involving a G4M during the war was the attack resulting in the death of Isoroku Yamamoto. The G4M with tail number T1-323 - which was carrying the Imperial Japanese Navy Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto - was attacked and shot down by P-38 Lightnings on 18 April 1943.
The G4M Model 11 was replaced by Models 22,22a/b,24a/b,25,26 and 27 after June 1943, following service in New Guinea, the Solomons, and the South Pacific area, in defense of Marianas and finally in Okinawa, with field modifications resulting in the Model 24j which carried suicide flying bombs Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka Model 11 beginning on 21 March 1945, with disastrous results due to heavy Allied fighter opposition.
Following the loss of Okinawa, G4Ms constituted the main weapon of the land-based Japanese naval bomber force, consisting of 20 Kokutais when at war's end, including the testing air group equipped in 1944-45 with the latest version G4M3 Model 34 and 36, arriving too late to change the course of the war.
As part of the negotiations for the surrender of Japan, two demilitarized G4Ms, given the call-signs Bataan 1 and Bataan 2 were sent to Ie Shima carrying the first surrender delegations as the first leg of their flight to Manila.
In 1945, Indonesian guerrillas captured numerous ex-Japanese air bases including Bugis Air Base in Malang (repatriated 18 September 1945). Several G4Ms were seized and flown by the Indonesians. Most of the aircraft were destroyed during 1945–1949 when the former Dutch East Indies and the Netherlands were engaged in a military conflict in Indonesia.