Mitsubishi B2M

The Mitsubishi B2M was a Japanese carrier-based torpedo bomber of the 1920s and 1930s, built by Mitsubishi to a design by the British firm Blackburn Aircraft for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Mitsubishi commissioned Blackburn in 1927 to enter a Navy competition for a carrier reconnaissance and torpedo bomber to replace the B1M, and the winning design was a development of the Blackburn Ripon. The Blackburn prototype first flew on 28 December 1929, and the B2M1 entered Navy service in March 1932 aboard the carriers Akagi, Kaga and Hosho. B2Ms were used extensively for bombing attacks on China at the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Production of both versions totalled 204 aircraft.