A5M4-K training fighter at rest, Japan, circa 1930s

Caption     A5M4-K training fighter at rest, Japan, circa 1930s ww2dbase
Photographer    Unknown
Source    ww2dbaseWikimedia Commons
Link to Source    Link
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A5M   Main article  Photos  
Photos at Same Place Japan
Added By C. Peter Chen

This photograph has been scaled down; full resolution photograph is available here (700 by 358 pixels).

Licensing  This work originating in Japan is in the public domain. According to Article 23 of the 1899 Copyright Act of Japan and Article 2 of Supplemental Provisions of Copyright Act of 1970, a work is in the public domain if it was created or published before 1 Jan 1957.

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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Commenter identity confirmed Bill says:
20 Feb 2009 08:52:12 AM

Profile of A5M4-K two-seat trainer version of the Navy Type 96 Carrier Fighter design began in 1940. The aircraft was characterized by the removal of the wheel spats, and fitting of two tandem open cockpits with large headrests. The aircraft also had a turn-over pylon mountedbetween the two cockpits. No A5M4 aircraft participated in front-line action against the Allies, and most aircraft of this type were retained in Japan by second-line and training units.
2. Commenter identity confirmed Bill says:
21 Jun 2011 03:35:57 PM

Added to my previous comment dated Feb 2009

Last combat action of the A5M (Claude) was
during the Battle of the Coral Sea May 1942.
Two A5Ms and Four A6M Zeros attacked US planes that sunk the Japanese carrier Shoho
surviving planes were used as trainers and later used for kamikaze attacks.

Even up to December 1941, US Intelligence
believed that the Claude was the Japanese Navies front-line fighter.
A5M4s saw action during the attacks against British and Dutch forces in Malaya and the East Indies, the Claude was replaced as more A6M2 Zeros were delivered.
3. Commenter identity confirmed Bill says:
18 May 2013 04:20:31 PM

Mitsubishi A5M4-K, prototype aircraft was built in December 1942 at the Imperial Navy's Sasebo Naval Arsenal. Production of the Single-seat A4M Claude, ended in 1940 with about 782 aircraft built.
A trainer version was built from single-seat airframes, with an added cockpit for the student pilot forward and the instructor in the rear cockpit. Production continued from 1942 to 1944 with 103 trainers being built, and were issued to fighter-training schools.
At the start of the Pacific War, several hundred A4M Claude's were still in Navy use, with others being used as fighter-trainers some Claude's saw action in the early months later being replaced with the Mitsubishi A6M2, Model 12 Zero.

The last A5M air combat took place in May 1942 when the carrier Shoho was attacked by US aircraft the carrier being sunk by bomb and torpedo hits. Before the carrier went down, two of the four A5M's aboard were able to get airborne and shot down three US aircraft and were
later forced to ditch in the sea, one fighter made a forced landing on a near by island.

As the war continued both the single-seat and trainer were used in Kamikaze special attack missions.

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