3. The Betty in Operation
The G4M Betty’s role was not limited to level bombing: it also made a pretty good torpedo bomber, and it was in that role that Bettys sank the British battleships Repulse and Prince of Wales in the war’s early days. However, the low, slow, and steady approach required for torpedo launch took away the Betty’s speed advantage and made it and its readily flammable fuel tanks vulnerable to defensive fire. The G4M bombers wreaked considerable havoc during the war’s first year, inaugurating the Japanese conquest of the Philippines by devastating Clark Field, America’s main airbase in the islands, on December 8th, 1941; sank the Prince of Wales and Repulse off the Malayan coast two days later; and ranged the breadth and width of the Pacific, utilizing their long range to bomb far-flung targets from Australia to the Aleutians.
However, once American fighters and trained pilots began flooding into the Pacific, the Betty’s vulnerability when flying without fighter protection was exposed. While speed and range made interception difficult, when Bettys were intercepted they suffered heavily. Redesigns reduced the vulnerabilities by introducing plate armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, at the cost of reduced speed and range. However, by then Japan was well on the way to losing the war, and the improved Bettys were flying with negligible fighter cover against swarms of US fighters. By war’s end, Bettys had been reduced to suicide bombers, or as launch platforms for missiles piloted by suicide flyers.
