Mitsubishi G3M Nell

The Mitsubishi G3M Type 96 land-based attack aircraft Allied reporting name “Nell” was a Japanese bomber and transport aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) during World War II.

Initially used during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the G3M operated against Chinese targets including Shanghai and Nanjing.

When the Pacific War erupted with the invasion of Malaya and bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the G3M was considered obsolete, but 204 G3M2s in four kōkūtai were still in operation.

The G3M was famous for taking part, along with the more advanced Mitsubishi G4M “Betty”, in the sinking of two British capital ships on 10 December 1941. Nells from the Genzan Kōkūtai provided important support during the attack on HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse (Force Z) near the Malayan coast. Prince of Wales and Repulse were the first two capital ships ever sunk exclusively by an air attack while at sea during war.

The attack on Darwin, Australia on 19 February 1942, by 188 Japanese aircraft, included 27 G3Ms of the 1. Kōkūtai (1st Air Group) based at Ambon, in the Dutch East Indies.

During the Battle of Rennell Island, G3Ms of the 701 Air Group put two torpedoes into heavy cruiser USS Chicago leading to her sinking by further torpedoes dropped by G4M bombers the next day.

From 1943 until the end of the war, the majority of G3Ms served as glider tugs, aircrew and paratroop trainers, and transports for high-ranking officers and VIPs between the home islands, occupied territories, and combat fronts.