Aviation of World War II
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Aviation of World War II |
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B6N Tenzan
After two years of operation, the flight characteristics of the Japanese B5N2 torpedo bomber no longer satisfied the Imperial Navy. On an uncontested basis, the improved deck torpedo bomber was instructed to create directly to the Nakajima firm. The designers under the leadership of Kenichi Matsumura (鈴 村 健 - Kenichi Suzumura) saw the solution to the issue mainly in increasing the power of the power plant. The engine was successively changed from Mamoru 11, which was discontinued, to Kasei-2-5 from Mitsubishi, with a capacity of 1850 hp. from. It was necessary to abandon the installation of protected fuel tanks, the protection against leaks significantly reduced the maximum refueling and, accordingly, the range of the torpedo bomber. The possibility of taking off from small aircraft carriers could be solved by using rocket boosters. With the new engine, the aircraft received the designation B6N2. In November 1944, production of the improved 12A model began. The changes mainly affected the weapons. About a third of the total number of torpedo bombers were equipped with radar. A total of 1268 aircraft of all modifications were produced. Armament B6N2 - one 13 mm type 2 machine gun at the disposal of the radio operator at the rear of the cockpit and a 7.7 mm type 97 machine gun in the hatch mount for downward firing; up to 800 kg of bombs or one torpedo. Combat use. During the last two years of the war, Tenzan torpedo bombers actively participated in all battles, but their combat effectiveness, compared to the B5N, was significantly lower. By the end of the war, Japanese aviation had already lost air supremacy and it was extremely difficult to conduct a coordinated air attack. Only a few planes could break through the powerful air defense of the allies. In addition, the level of training of the flight personnel significantly decreased, which reduced the effectiveness of the use of the new torpedo bomber. Starting with the battles for about. Okinawa, from the spring of 1945, torpedo bombers were used exclusively from coastal airfields. To use the bomber from coastal airfields, a modification of the B6N3 model 13 was developed with a new Kasei 2-5s engine, a reinforced chassis and without a landing hook, but two of its prototypes died under the bombing and did not have time to organize mass production. |
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Aircraft
Combat Use
