Yokosuka R2Y

Role: Reconnaissance, Fighter
Manufacturer: Yokosuka
First flight: 8 May 1945
Status: Cancelled
Primary user: Imperial Japanese Navy (intended)
Number built: 2

The Yokosuka R2Y Keiun (景雲 - "Beautiful Cloud") was a prototype reconnaissance aircraft built in Japan late in World War II.

Design and development

Commissioned for the Imperial Japanese Navy after the R1Y design was cancelled due to its disappointing performance estimates, the R2Y borrowed from the German pre-war Heinkel He 119 in its use of coupled engines driving a single propeller. It also featured a tricycle undercarriage giving it an appearance similar to the Messerschmitt Me 509.

Completed in April 1945, the prototype made a short flight on 8 May, but was destroyed in a US air raid only a few days later, thus ending development.

A proposal was also made to develop the R2Y into a turbojet-powered light bomber by replacing its piston engines with two Ishikawajima Ne-330s. Designated the R2Y2 Keiun-Kai, the prototype was begun but never completed.

Specifications (R2Y1)

Data from Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War

General characteristics

Crew: 2
Length: 13.05 m (42 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: 14.00 m (45 ft 11 in)
Height: 4.24 m (13 ft 9 in)
Wing area: 34.0 m² (366 ft²)
Empty weight: 6,015 kg (13,261 lb)
Loaded weight: 8,100 kg (17,857 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 9,400 kg (20,723 lb)
Powerplant: 1 x— Aichi Ha-70 (Two 1,300 kW (1,700 hp) Aichi Atsuta engines coupled to a gearbox), 2,500 kW (3,400 hp)

Performance

Maximum speed: 770 km/h (416 kn, 480 mph)
Range: 3,610 km (1,949 nmi, 2,251 mi)
Service ceiling: 11,700 m (38,376 ft)
Rate of climb: 476 m/min (1,561 ft/min)
Wing loading: 238 kg/m² (49 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 31 W/kg (0.19 hp/lb)

Related content

Related development:

Heinkel He 119
Messerschmitt Me 509

Comparable aircraft:

Kawasaki Ki-64 (also a tandem-engine driving a single propeller)

Bibliography

Francillon, Ph.D., René J. Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1970 (2nd edition 1979). ISBN 0-370-30251-6.

Yokosuka R2Y Pictures

More airplane video.

Source: WikiPedia