If an aircraft carrier had been assigned to Force Z, what would have happened in history?

[Justo Miranda]

Those were level bombers attacking in tight pattern - a common mistake done by many air commanders early in WW2 (like American attempts to use B-17 against warships). But while such high-altitude attacks weren't sucsessfull, the Italian low-altitude torpedo bombers - "damned hunchbacks" - were pretty well-known and feared by RN. You really should research matters better.

The Italians had courage but the Japanese naval aviators were experienced, they were using the Mitsubishi G3Ms in China since July 1937, the SM 79s used by the Italians in Spain were only used in high altitude attacks.

 

[Dilandu]

The Italians had courage but the Japanese naval aviators were experienced, they were using the Mitsubishi G3Ms in China since July 1937, the SM 79s used by the Italians in Spain were only used in high altitude attacks.

Japanese naval aviators have little experience in attacking moving warships. Arguably even less than Italians, because Italians obtained radio-controlled target ship (the San Marco) much earlier than Japanese.

 

[Justo Miranda]

Japanese naval aviators have little experience in attacking moving warships. Arguably even less than Italians, because Italians obtained radio-controlled target ship (the San Marco) much earlier than Japanese.

Der zweite Weltkrieg • Ver Tema - Operación Scoglio

www.zweiterweltkrieg.org

 

[Justo Miranda]

Those were level bombers attacking in tight pattern - a common mistake done by many air commanders early in WW2 (like American attempts to use B-17 against warships). But while such high-altitude attacks weren't sucsessfull, the Italian low-altitude torpedo bombers - "damned hunchbacks" - were pretty well-known and feared by RN. You really should research matters better.

The bombsight used in the G3M was primitive compared to the mechanisms used in the G3M's contemporaries such as the B-17 Flying Fortress and Heinkel He 111. Aside from the limited precision necessary in its naval role as a long-range torpedo bomber against Allied naval fleets, the G3M frequently operated with other G3M units in massive "wave" formation. Use of these large formations eliminated the need for singular high-precision bombing attacks.

Mitsubishi G3M

The Mitsubishi G3M (Kyūroku-shiki rikujō kōgeki-ki (九六式陸上攻撃機): Type 96 land-based attack aircraft "Rikko"; Allied reporting name "Nell") was a Japanese bomber and transport aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) during World War II. The G3M has its origins in a...

bomberaircraft.fandom.com

 

[Justo Miranda]

The RN had faced Italian SM79 torpedo bombers since not long after the outbreak of war with Italy in June 1940. HMS Kent was torpedoed by one on 17 Sept 1940 & Liverpool on 14 Oct 1940. The first aircraft to attack Illustrious on 10 Jan 1941 were two SM79 torpedo bombers attacking at low level and intercepted by her Fulmars. Fortunately the Italians didn't have the numbers at that time for the kind of mass attack faced by Force Z.

In 1940 the RN had also faced the threat from Luftwaffe torpedo bombers, although again these made few attacks and were in small numbers.

- In the morning of October 7, 1939, a concentration of British warships were located in the North Sea by a Heinkel He 111 H-6 reconnaissance aircraft of the KG 26 photographic unit.

This powerful naval group was attacked by 127 Heinkel He 111 and 21 Junkers Ju 88 bombers from the X Fliegerkorps.

The Kriegsmarine staff was also ordered to co-ordinate an aerial attack of its naval air arm. Five Heinkel He 59 torpedo-bomber floatplanes and 23 Dornier Do 18 reconnaissance flying boats were deployed but, despite hours of searching, they failed to contact the enemy and no concerted Luftwaffe attack was mounted.

On October 22, a new Luftwaffe-Kriegsmarine joint action was attempted against convoy FN24 from Methil to Orfordness.

The attack involved three Ju 88s of the 1.KG 30 and ten Heinkel He 115 floatplanes of the 1./Kü.Fl.Gr.406, but it turned out that the Ju 88s were faster and reached the convoy much earlier than the He 115, alerting the British defenses. When the naval planes began the attack, they were intercepted by Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire fighters of the 46th and 72nd RAF squadrons that managed to shoot down four floatplanes and damaged others.

The disaster was used politically to the benefit of the Luftwaffe. In November 15, Reichsmarshall Hermann Göring ordered the reduction of the Küstenflieger units to just nine long-range reconnaissance and nine multipurpose Staffeln.