Japanese Junkers Ju-88 A-4 "Janice"

Suggestions Aircraft
1
Would you like to see this in-game?
  • Yes
  • No
0 voters

Ju88_Japan_PORTADA
Ju88_Japan_PORTADA800×1067 1.37 MB

Japanese Junkers Ju-88 A-4 (ユンカース Ju-88 A-4)
At the end of 1940, the Japanese Navy purchased one Junkers Ju-88 aircraft in the A-4 version for testing purposes. This aircraft was lost along with the entire crew during a test flight on August 17, 1942, during a storm. Based on the Ju-88 design, the Kyushu Q1W patrol aircraft was developed, and it also served as an inspiration for the Yokosuka P1Y bomber.
History
In 1939, the Japanese Navy noticed that most European powers had modern large dive bombers, which were ideal for support. Most of these reports came from Japanese representatives in Germany. The Japanese observed during the fights in China that the main naval attack aircraft (bomber), the Mitsubishi G3M, although it had a good bomb load and enormous range, lacked speed and the capability for precise target destruction in a dive. Since the Japanese Navy did not have sufficient experience in building large aircraft capable of dive attacks, it was decided to purchase a modern dive-capable bomber from Germany. After negotiations, the Japanese bought the most advanced version of the Ju-88 bomber available at that time (1940), the A-4 version. For the Japanese, this aircraft was one of the first of this version (either a pre-production or early production series). Along with one Ju-88 A-4, the Japanese Navy purchased the documentation for this aircraft. At the end of 1940, the Japanese Navy commissioned the construction of the 15-Shi land-based bomber (the future Yokosuka P1Y), which was inspired by the Yokosuka D4Y and the Junkers Ju-88. It is not fully known when the Junkers Ju-88 arrived in Japan, but it was certainly there by August 1942. At that time, the Naval Aviation Technology Factory (Yokosuka) decided to use the Ju-88 to test flight without navigation instruments, which were removed for the flight. The aircraft took off on August 17, 1942, from Kisarazu airfield and flew over Tokyo Bay. There, the plane was caught in a thunderstorm and never returned from the flight. The Junkers Ju-88 likely got lost in the storm and crashed in the Pacific after running out of fuel. A month later (September 1942), the Japanese Navy commissioned Watanabe to create the Shi-17 patrol aircraft (future Kyushu Q1W), which was based on the design of the Junkers Ju-88. During the war in the Pacific, American intelligence mistakenly believed that the Junkers Ju-88 was in Japanese service and gave it the code name Janice. Probably towards the end of the war, the Kyushu Q1W was often mistaken for the Junkers Ju-88.

Probably a photo of the Japanese Ju-88 A-4

IMG_20260206_193133_095
IMG_20260206_193133_0952560×1789 364 KB

Construction description
The Japanese Ju-88 A-4 is exactly the same as the German or Finnish Ju-88 A-4

Technical sketches

OIP

ju88a4-1
ju88a4-11200×1521 199 KB

Construction details

ju88a4-2
ju88a4-22750×1977 1.41 MB

Zrzut ekranu 2025-10-01 160935
Zrzut ekranu 2025-10-01 160948

General characteristics

  • Crew: 4
  • Length: 14,36 m
  • Wingspan: 20,08 m
  • Height: 5,07 m
  • Wing area: 54,7 m2
  • Empty weight: 8550 kg
  • Gross weight: 12,105 kg
  • Maximum Take-off Weight: 14,000 kg
  • Powerplant: 2 × Junkers Jumo 211J-1 liquid-cooled inverted piston engine, with a takeoff power of 1,000 kW (1,340 hp) each
  • Propellers: Three-bladed VDM variable-pitch propeller

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 440-470 km/h
  • Cruise Speed: 385-398 km/h
  • Range: 1,790 km
  • Maximum Range: 2,730 km
  • Service ceiling: 8 200 m
  • Climb Rate: ?
  • Time to Climb to: 23 minutes to 5,400 m

Armament

  1. Guns:
  • 1 × 7.92 mm MG 81J machine gun on flexible mount in front windscreen (1,000 rounds)
  • 2 × 7.92 mm MG 81J machine guns on flexible mount in the rear of the cockpit canopy, (1,000 rounds each)
  • 1 × 7.92 mm MG 81Z twin machine gun on flexible mount in the rear ventral Bola position, (1,000 rounds.)
  1. Bombs:
  • 10 x 50 kg bombs in the bomb bay (500 kg)
  • 28 x 50 kg bombs in the bomb bay (1400 kg)
  • 4 x 250 kg bombs under the wings (1000 kg)
  • 6 x 250 kg bomb under the wings (1500 kg)
  • 2 x 500 kg bombs under the wings (1000 kg)
  • 1 x 1000 kg bombs under the wings
  • 2 x 1000 kg bombs under the wings (2000 kg)
  • 1 x 1400 kg bombs under the wings
  • 2 x 1400 kg bombs under the wings (2800 kg)
  • 1 x 1800 kg bombs under the wings

Armour

  • Self-sealing fuel tanks
  • Armor is the same as the German Ju-88 A-4 from the game

Special thanks

Summary
The Junkers Ju-88 A-4 is an interesting aircraft for Japan in War Thunder. This bomber is a very useful bomber that is capable of effectively destroying bases or enemy tanks. This aircraft would be a great premium bomber or event plane for Japan. I encourage you to discuss in the comments and to share your own knowledge on this subject.
Finally, I apologize for the linguistic and logical errors because unfortunately English is not my main language and I had to use google translator.

Internet sources

Ju 88 (航空機) - Wikipedia
東海 (航空機) - Wikipedia
銀河 (航空機) - Wikipedia
Junkers Ju 88 A-4 : Junkers
Уголок неба ¦ Junkers Ju.88A-4(17)

Book sources

fun
Thank you for reading the suggestion, see you in the next one. Good luck pilots
gigachad

10 Likes
2

+1 i never knew japan had this.

2 Likes
3

-1. I hate copy paste

1 Like
4

+1

5

Yes but I think it should be only collectible

2 Likes
6

A +1 from me! Never knew Japan had a Ju 88, would be neat as a Premium/Event vehicle.

2 Likes
7

I think this would be a really cool plane that offers decent flexibility in attacking player vehicles, esp with the dive brakes. I hope to see it along with the Q1W in the NEAR future! Excellent suggestion, +1

2 Likes
8

An interesting import. I have to say Japan has the opposite issue that other nations have with imported equipment. Though post war there was a good few imports it was less common so I find these vehicles interesting.

1 Like
9

+1 if and only if gaijin got off their ass and implemented correct bombloads on all Ju 88 A-4 be it Finnish, German, or Japanese:

3 Likes
10

Thank you very much. I wasn’t sure what the actual bomb load was on the Ju-88 A-4. You will receive special thanks for this assistance.

2 Likes
11

Could you translate this for me? My German is poor.

12

1 Like
13

This is a list about the bomb armament of the Ju-88. Section a) is the bombs in the bomb bay, listing the capacity for the front and rear parts of the bomb bay, also divided into inner

image

image

  • Front inside → Light green
  • Front outside → Dark green
  • Rear inside → Purple
  • Rear outside-> Blue

Section b) is about the wing mounted armament, and the part wrong in War Thunder. Here we are missing the outer wing stations (M15) entirely, 500kg bombs on the “central” wing stations (M14), options for two 500kg, 1000kg and 1400kg bombs on the inner wing stations (M8) and what seems to be single 1400kg and 1800kg bomb options for the M8 stations.

image

image

But I’m also not a Ju-88 expert, I’m just reading what these images say. Maybe someone else can give a better explanation

1 Like
14

Is this correct, or did I misunderstand the documentation?

1 Like
15

Voted no.
I want to see japan with japanese planes. I find these singular planes rather immersion breaking, especially when they are spammed in large numbers.

1 Like
16

In my opinion, it’s a good premium aircraft. It inspired the Yokosuka P1Y1, and the Kyushu Q1W1 was based on it. It will provide an interesting complement to Japan’s premium bomber fleet, which primarily consists of heavy bombers (H8K3 and B17E).

3 Likes
17

Voted yes because of its significance to the history of Japanese aviation. I do not find these singular planes particularly immersion-breaking since the game is meant to be an inclusion of vehicles with interesting history or technical characteristics.

+1 from me. This would be a nice Rank II SL grinder.

2 Likes