Customer Reviews

Aichi D3A1/2 Val (Crowood Aviation)

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An excellent, enjoyable read. Peter Smith has written many informative books on aviation, this is no exception. Crowood Aviation series are well written, quality books. This book discusses the origins of dive bombing in the Japanese Navy, the early design of the Val in 1936 through to the deployment in March of 1939. Anyone who knows anything about Pearl Harbor can tell you when this plane made its first impression on the US Navy. About 1500 were made.

The Val was very successful in the early stages of the war. As Allied planes grew more numerous and of better quality, the Val suffered, its last role was as a Kamikaze. There were a few survivors of the war and these are addressed as well.

Many clear B&W photos, line drawings showing tactics of the Val, where certain bombs hit US carriers in the Battle of Midway, pilots stories, data, statistics all make this a very good balance between facts/stats and operational history. My one wish - color. No color plates or photos to show the various paint schemes used.

I highly recommend this book for aviation or carrier buffs, those interested in the Pacific war, especially if you want to know more about Japanese aircraft.

Peter C. Smith is THE authority on dive bombing. His reputation is based upon books like AICHI D3A1/2 VAL, an excellent, excellent history of the Japanese dive-bomber that may be the all-time ship-killer in military history. Part of the Crowood Aviation series, Smith's book, published in 1999, is a masterpiece of research and writing, easily deserving a six star rating.

Smith packs an incredible amount of information into the book's 192 pages. After a brief history of dive bombing in Japan, he presents a history of the Aichi Aircraft Company before delving into the development and combat exploits of the Type 99 Val dive-bomber. He provides detailed -and previously unavailable - information on the Val's use over China, Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Java, Australia, the Indian Ocean sortie, the Coral Sea Battle, Midway, Guadalcanal ops and late-war use as a kamikaze. For each of these actions Smith supplies first-hand accounts from Japanese and Allied participants along with detailed summaries of the bomb hits Vals made on various ships! Smith also profiles notable Type 99 pilots, describes unit markings, surviving Vals and so on. The author really did his homework on this one!

The book is brimming with illustrations - 190 black & white photos, maps, aircraft four-views, bomb hit diagrams, performance charts, cockpit schematics, dive-bombing attack diagrams, etc. The only thing missing is color profiles but that may have been a pricing decision on the part of Crowood Press.

In short, AICHI D3A1/2 VAL is one impressive package - top-notch research, incredible detail, exciting reading. Long out of print, it now sells for around $90.00. Yet if you are a Pacific air war buff and want to know what Aichi's graceful dive-bomber accomplished, this is the book for you. Military history doesn't get much better than this, folks!