Japan's "Giant" Attacker Had A Giant Problem: Aichi B7A Ryusei

hey everyone how's it going today we're going to be talking about size or more specifically limitations on size just as there are size limitations on amusement park rides so too are there size limitations in the world of Aviation I guess technically speaking there kind of isn't a limit so long as you combine adequate lift power and just space to use the thing but practically speaking engine power Runway size weight and structural stability all act as limiters on aircraft and almost all of these limiters interconnect and play off of each other if the weight of a plane is too great then more or stronger engines could be added however engines are often only so powerful though meaning that the absolute heaviest aircraft need multiple engines and having multiple engines adds more weight if adding engines isn't your speed then perhaps you could generate more lift with longer and wider Wings however doing this also increases the weight and the longer the wings are the more that they need to be supported this in turn adds even more weight but if that's not enough as the size of this hypothetical aircraft increases so too does the size of the runway that it needs and while this may seem like it's a simple task in just getting a big old slab of concrete down there would be a lot of work in leveling that area and maintaining the runway that's exposed to the elements then there's the financial incentive of making such a large runway for just one thing and etc etc and Etc simply put there are a lot of reasons why the vast majority of planes don't go above the size of like jet airl liners at some point it simply isn't worth it but right now we're thinking too big we need to go smaller and older and talk about size limitations on much smaller aircraft specifically ones from World War II because well that's what we talk about on this channel specifically single engine aircraft on single engine aircraft the power of the singular engine is certainly a limiter and back in the 30s and 40s each country would have vastly different production capabilities overall engine sizes engine power and preferred engine types the greater production capabilities and standards that were seen in the United States would allow for bigger stronger and more complex engines at least when compared to say the Soviet Union or Italy or Japan and speaking of Japan they're the subject object of our video for today largely using lower power radial engines this at least partially necessitated them using smaller and lighter aircraft this would go handin hand with their overall preference for lighter and more agile Fighters so if you were to guess what the limiting factor on a Japanese single engine plane in World War II was nine times out of 10 you would probably guess that the engine played the greatest role but no our subject for today had a completely different limiter one that was a bit less intuitive but still important nonetheless this is the heaviest and largest Japanese carrier-based aircraft that was used in World War II this is the aichi b7a ryus to start though we have to go back over two decades before the start of World War II around the end of the first world war with Japan's decision to begin construction of an aircraft carrier the world's first purpose-built commissioned aircraft carrier at that now it wasn't the first purpose-built to begin or complete construction though and that honor goes to the British HMS Hermes but it was the first to be commissioned a key step beginning Construction in 1920 the carrier ho show when completed in late 1921 and commissioned in late 1922 was a major step for Japan in their growth to being a major Global power come the mid to late 1930s but at least when you compare it to other carriers from roughly around the same time the hosho was a very small carrier as you can see from this image the HHO was the runt of the litter being just above half the length of the USS Lexington that also began construction around 1920 and it was about half the width as well Additionally the hosho could only carry about 15 aircraft compared to the Lexington's over 70 despite beginning construction around the same time the hosho was half the carrier with a quarter of the power however the hosho despite being classed as just an aircraft carrier it was effectively a light carrier and light carriers are generally smaller it's kind of in the name and Japan's next carrier the akagi and subsequent carrier the kaga placed their carriers on relatively equal footing with their future enemies being similar in size and aircraft capacity however there was a pretty significant design difference between American and Japanese carriers a difference that was probably pretty difficult to spot at first glance but was still very important the difference would be in the elevators used to transfer the aircraft from their hangers in the hall to the flight deck as Japanese aircraft on average were smaller than their American counterparts this largely meant that the elevators carrying these planes could be smaller as well this would ideally mean that less time effort and resources needed to be spent on fashioning larger elevators that could carry greater weight comparing the aagi to the USS Lexington the size difference in their main elevators was pretty significant on the aagi it would have two elevators the larger main one was 11.8x 13 M and the smaller one was 8.4x 12. 8 m on the USS Lexington it would also have two elevators the larger main one was 9.1 by 18.3 M and if needed this could be extended by an additional 6.1x 7.9 M Square section now the second elevator on the Lexington was pretty small at just 9.1 by 11 M but that main elevator was enor enormous considering as well that aircraft on carriers were often fitted with folding wings that significantly reduce the wingspan the American Carrier would easily be able to carry far larger aircraft if needed as Japan would continue constructing their carriers their elevator sizes would increase but only marginally and nowhere near the maximum size that was offered by something like the Lexington a carrier like the shokaku for example its largest elevator was 13x 16 M certainly an improvement but not terribly large meanwhile on subsequent American carriers they would largely do away with the traditional elevators that were just a big hole in the flight deck basically and they would switch over to deck Edge elevators more compact convenient and probably better than just having a big hole in the flight deck but then in 1939 the Japanese Navy and Military approved the Taio carrier that was to be fitted with slightly larger Square elevators that were about 14x 14 M as both it and the preceding carrier the Hyo had these slightly larger Square elevators it was clear that Japan was starting to shift over to having overall larger elevators that could carry larger aircraft in general this then led to a call from the Japanese Navy in 1941 accompanied by Design specification 16 she for a new carrier-based torpedo and dive bomber that would be replacing the Yokosuka D4 y a plane that was actually still in development at the time but was further along in development the Nakajima b5n and eventually the nak gima b6n that was being developed almost in parallel to this 16 she design however the Navy believe that the 16 she design would be better than what the b6n would be they would specifically call for a plane with a bomb load around 1100 lb or it would need the ability to carry 1,800 lb torpedo along with it needing an Armament of two forward firing 20 mm cannons and one rear firing machine gun a top speed upwards of 354 mph was also sought with a maximum range upwards of 2,000 miles interestingly as well they wanted this design to be on par maneuverability wise with the Mitsubishi A6 m0 fighter a very tall task for what would shape up to be comparably a much larger aircraft additionally as the carrier elevators were to be larger the length of the design could be longer as well previously Japanese carrier aircraft had an effective max length around 11 M and this can be seen in several designs that all sat either just under or just barely over 11 M long Japanese designers would stick to that limit very closely for these overall requirements since the company iichi began their design work and rather early on in this process the Japanese Navy would swoop in and add another requirement as the plane was to be more versatile in that it needing to have the maneuverability of the zero kind of basically implied that the design was also to be serving as a fighter if necessary the engine on it would have to be quite powerful powerful enough to achieve a high top speed with a full payload for this the Navy would tell iichi that the engine their design would be using was the Nakajima Omar engine which in 1941 was largely still in its prototype phase still working through the initial design the Navy would view the homat engine as the effective successor to the Sakaya engine that the zero would use so for this new modern carrier aircraft a new more powerful engine would be required by the end of World War II the hare engine would be among the most powerful engines Japan had at their disposal but in 1941 that certainly was not the case yet still though with the potential power it held the eventual design from iichi would certainly be promising by May 1942 iichi would have their first prototype or their am23 design ready to take to the air measuring in at 11.49 M long still not going up too far above that old 11 M limit 14.4 M wide and 4.08 M tall the am23 also called the b7a by the Japanese Navy was pretty large as Japanese carrier aircraft are concerned compared to the it was 2 1/2 M longer and 2 1/2 M wider compared to the b5n it was about a meter longer but also a meter narrower compared to the B6 and it was roughly the same size slightly longer and slightly narrower and compared to the D4 y it was a meter longer and almost 3 m wider sizewise the b7a was just barely the older brother of the group but where the size would stand out even more though was in its weight with a full bomb load the b7a would have a gross weight of 12,41 lb this compared to just 6,146 lb on the Zero 8,378 lb on the b5n 11,464 on the b6n and 9, 370 on the D4 y keep in mind as well that the b7a was as per the requested specs to be as agile as the zero despite weighing twice as much if iichi could pull that off the Japanese Navy would have a monstrously overqualified torpedo and dive bomber at their disposal for the rest of the initial prototype design it would feature inverted go Wings much like the F4U Corsair and ju87 Stuka this was done to ensure that there was enough space for an under fuselage torpedo and to ensure that its larger propeller didn't hit the ground now they could have just made the legs longer in that case but that would also require the legs to be reinforced further and thus heavier and bulkier so they went with the G Wings instead the cockpit of the B7 a was extended as is often the case for torpedo bombers to ensure greater vision for All crew in the B7 A's case they crew of two the tail and tail surfaces on it were pretty much standard with a more midet horizontal surface other than that there isn't terribly much else of major note when the b7a took to the air starting in May 1942 it had some very high expectations to meet and at least at times it would actually manage to meet said expectations in the best case scenarios the top speed of the b7a not only met these expectations but actually exceeded them going past the requested top speed of 354 mph and up to 367 mph and the handling at this speed speed was reportedly exceptional while I'm not 100% sure if this top speed was achieved with a full bomb or torpedo load I do strongly suspect it was achieved without any payload at all but still such a speed for such a heavy carrier-based aircraft by Japan standards was very impressive after dropping its payload such a top speed would be incredibly beneficial in ensuring its Survival on the trip back to base for the plane's true top speed or more likely the top speed with a payload it would drop albeit not by that much down to 351 mph even with this top speed drop its top speed would actually still be greater than early versions of the zero and roughly on par with late War variants of the zero it would also be over 100 mph faster than the b5n 50 m an hour faster than the b6n and 10 m hour faster than the D4 y faster than the two planes it would replace faster than the plane it was intended to replace later on and even faster than Japan's main carrier-based fighter Not only was it faster than the zero but in its maneuverability testing it was found to be just about as agile as well overall in its initial performance and potential versatility the b7a was not only a worthy successor as a dive and torpedo bomber but perhaps even as a fighter as well but do recall how I said that it met expectations at times this was because of the homat engine still being quite early in its development in May 1942 and despite being projected to output 1,600 to 18800 horsepower it rarely would ever achieve that and the more common performance early on was roughly on par with the stronger model Nakajima Saka engines that it was made to replace with this inferior level of performance the b7a would not be a viable aircraft unless maybe it shed a lot of its weight so barring that it would basically have to wait until the homat engine was consistent enough to begin its full production run and the b7a would have to wait quite a while it wouldn't be until May 1944 2 years after the first flight date that the homat engine was viewed as being sufficient enough for production but now with a proper engine ready to go the b7a could be Off to the Races by this time as well just two months prior the Taio carrier it was designed for was officially commissioned and was ready for combat aichi just needed to produce 30 to 40 b7a and the Taio could be sufficiently outfitted with its dive bombers torpedo bombers and Fighters or some carrier to carrier combat however for some reason that I couldn't find an answer to aichi was never able to ramp up production for the b7a its production would only really begin increasing around September 1944 and even then the number produced per month was just a handful and by the end of 1944 including the prototypes made just 41 had been made in total it wasn't until early 1945 that production per month even hit double digits but still better late than never Japan was on the ropes and a plane like the b7a flying from Japanese carriers would certainly be a significant boost only there was one very small problem by June 1944 the carrier Taio was well at the bottom of the Philippine Sea it was a rather embarrassing end for the Taio in that battle after launching some of its aircraft those being zeros D4 y's and B6 n's the Taio was struck by a single torpedo from the USS albore with a combination of excellent torpedo placement in that it struck some fuel storage and a very poor response from the sailors on board that would fail to put out the fires and drain away flooding the Taio would sink with over 1,500 crew going down with it not only did this reduce an Ever dwindling Japanese Fleet but it left the b7a without a place to call home none of the remaining Japanese carriers would have elevators large or strong enough to move the b7a except then in November 1944 the carrier shinano was finished with its construction and with a main elevator that was 14x 15 M it was large and strong enough to hold the b7a for about 10 days or so anyway as just 10 days after that carrier was complete it too was sunk by an American submarine Tech once again the b7a was left without a home now having no home once again the existing b7a were forced to operate as landbased aircraft alongside comparatively much better aircraft like the k84 and sheden as they numbered less than 100 at the beginning of 1945 their overall impact in this role was incredibly limited and in fact they basically made no impact production would continue though although never actually producing more than 15 in a single month across two factories past May 1945 the production of the b7a of effectively ended after an earthquake destroyed the bulk of the main Factory that was producing it this earthquake would also quash any plans to improve upon the b7a as some initial designing was in the works to fit it with a Mitsubishi MK 9A Engine with around 2200 horsepower a 400 or so horsepower boost over the b7a current engine this engine was also dimensionally larger and a little bit heavier so this would have required some redesigning of the nose and cowling but this redesigning never actually left paper overall though the iichi b7a ruse was one of the more unfortunate aircraft in World War II while it certainly went through its trials and tribulations with extensive delays due to issues with the engine it ended up being a really promising aircraft that if it was just a few months ahead of schedule it may have been able to make some kind of impact in World War II not exactly enough to change the course of the war or anything but enough to give American and various Allied Fighters a solid scare with this sort of tank is zeroes plane buzzing around but because it was slightly too large for older Japanese carriers it was a plane without without a home when it was finally ready for combat it was basically like that one image from Community a show I've never seen But I do know the meme where Donald Glover comes in with the pizza and the rooms on fire the b7a is the Donald Glover of World War II take that for what you will all right and with that we're going to go ahead and end for today so thank you all for watching Remember to like comment and subscribe there is something else about the B a that I just thought of at the end of writing this with how the cowling kind of slop down from the slope of the cockpit canopy and general nose section it kind of looks like a plecostomus or some kind of bottom feeding fish I have a plecostomus in my fish tank it's a albino bristlenose plecostomus and it hangs around inside this fake wooden log all day it only comes out at night and then as soon as I turn on the light it runs away but anyway I hope you enjoyed the video and I hope you learned something so see you

Channel: IHYLS

Views: 54,196

Keywords: Aichi, aichi b7a ryusei, fighter aircraft, dive bomber, torpedo bomber, japanese aircraft, ww2, world war 2, military history, aviation history, military aircraft, imperial japanese navy, japanese air force, airplane, pacific war

Id: yDVm-3zk8zo

Length: 25min 4sec (1504 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 09 2024