In 1938, the production of aircrafts in Japan doubled rapidly from 1511 in 1937 to 3201. In contrast, only 10 Chinese Army planes were produced during the two years. Instead, China relied heavily on imported aircrafts.

September 4, 1937, A5Ms taking off from Kaga carrier shot down three Chinese US-made Hawk III biplane fighters. Two days later, A5Ms escorted G3M bombers to bomb Guangde and engaged multiple Hawk III fighters, who had a such a hard time with A5Ms that they had no chance to intercept the Japanese bombers. The bombing of the terrible G3Ms caused more than 8,000 civilian deaths in two days and to Chinese Air Force, they were non-stoppable.

After the fall of Guangzhou on October 12, 1938.The first stage of Sino-Japanese war came to an end. For the Japanese Navy, it was nearly a perfect victory, which to a large extent was due to the air supperority created by A5Ms.