Yokosuka D4Y1, 4316, "Taka-13"
History
The aircraft known as Yokosuka D4Y serial 4316 is one of the very few surviving examples of the Japanese Navy's Yokosuka D4Y Suisei dive bomber, an aircraft the Allies nicknamed "Judy." Today it is displayed at the Yūshūkan museum beside Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
The D4Y was developed by the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal during World War II as a fast carrier-based dive bomber. Influenced by German aircraft engineering, especially the Heinkel He 118 prototype, the D4Y combined unusually high speed with a streamlined liquid-cooled engine. Early variants could reach speeds superior to many Allied fighters of the early Pacific War. However, the aircraft sacrificed armor and fuel protection for performance, making it vulnerable in combat.
Serial number 4316 was a D4Y1 model built during the later years of the Pacific War. Like many Japanese aircraft stationed in the Central Pacific, it eventually ended up on Yap Island in present-day Micronesia, then a major Japanese military outpost. During the final stages of the war, American bombing campaigns devastated the island's airfields and aircraft facilities. Aircraft 4316 was abandoned at Colonia Airfield, where it remained exposed to tropical weather for decades after Japan's surrender in 1945.
In the late 1970s, Japanese recovery teams located the wreckage on Yap. The remains were transported back to Japan and restored at Kisarazu Air Field between 1979 and 1980. Because so few original D4Ys survived the war, the restoration attracted considerable historical interest. The restoration preserved much of the aircraft's external appearance, though some reconstruction work was necessary because of corrosion and missing components.
In 1988, the restored aircraft was donated to the Yūshūkan museum, the military and historical museum operated by Yasukuni Shrine.
The location of the aircraft is historically and politically significant. Yasukuni Shrine was founded in 1869 to commemorate those who died fighting for the Japanese emperor and today enshrines more than 2.4 million war dead from conflicts ranging from the Boshin War through World War II. The adjacent Yūshūkan museum displays military artifacts including aircraft, artillery, uniforms, and wartime documents. Critics have long argued that the museum presents an overly nationalistic interpretation of Japanese wartime history, while supporters view it as a memorial to those who died in service to Japan.
Because of this context, serial 4316 is more than simply a preserved aircraft. It has become part of the broader debate over Japanese wartime memory and commemoration. To aviation historians, it is an exceptionally rare surviving example of Japanese naval aviation technology. To others, its placement at Yasukuni links it to ongoing controversies surrounding how Japan remembers the Pacific War.