Unpopular Aircraft 120
This article is 2273 words, 35 pictures, and the estimated reading time is 11 minutes
Designed from Heinkel
Before the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese Navy did not have a special land-based reconnaissance plane, and it still used carrier-based reconnaissance planes for inland reconnaissance activities, and the design of these ships exposed many problems, especially in the vast Chinese battlefield during the war of aggression against China. So in 1941, the Navy proposed to design a special land-based reconnaissance aircraft, and the Yokosuka Air Technology Factory launched the design scheme Y-30, which eventually became the seventeenth test land reconnaissance aircraft Xiaoyun (R1Y1), but because Japan was too successful in the early stage of the Pacific War, the value of this aircraft was not outstanding, and the Navy did not produce it.
Xiaoyun (R1Y1)
As early as late 1938, the Heinkel company presented the He 119 experimental high-speed reconnaissance aircraft to a delegation of the Japanese Navy visiting Germany. The speed and range of the He 119 impressed the Japanese. The Japanese Navy then sent a group of technicians to Germany to learn more about the details of the He 119, which was dispatched by the Yokosuka Naval Aviation Technical Plant and led by Hideo Tsukada. Eventually, Japan and Germany reached an agreement to purchase two He 119 prototypes and license them to be built in Japan.
He 119
Two He 119 prototypes were shipped to Japan by sea in 1941. The two aircraft were reassembled at Kasumigaura Airport and conducted flight tests at Yokosuka Naval Base. During an early test flight, one of the He 119s was badly damaged in a landing accident, another He 119 is believed to have suffered a similar fate, and plans to produce the He 119 failed to move forward.
Imagination of the Japanese army He 119
Time came to 1943, the Japanese army in the Pacific War took a sharp turn, ordinary reconnaissance aircraft have gone and no return, which made the high-speed reconnaissance aircraft return to an important position, the design of the 17th test land reconnaissance aircraft can no longer meet this requirement, the air technology factory believes that the overall configuration of the He 119 is still very advantageous, especially the high-speed performance, decided to redesign a land-based reconnaissance aircraft based on the He 119.
R2Y1 景云
R2Y1 Jingyun The only prototype ever built
In 1943, the air technology plant in Yokosuka began designing a reconnaissance aircraft with a similar layout of the He 119, known as the eighteen-test land reconnaissance aircraft Y-40. Initially led by Masao Yamana (Shio Otsuki), who had designed the Comet dive bomber, the Y-40 was a pressurized, two-seater, unarmed, high-speed, all-metal reconnaissance aircraft with a front tricycle retractable landing gear. The design was approved, and the Y-40 was officially called the R2Y1 Keiun. The construction of two prototypes was ordered.
The Navy's proposed design targets focused on speed and range, requiring a top speed of 400 knots (741 km) and a maximum range of 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km), surpassing all Japanese aircraft at the time.
cockpit
Airframe under construction
Jingyun is driven by two Aichi Atsuta 30 V12 liquid-cooled piston engines (licensed Japanese version of the German DB 601 engine) in parallel to form a 24-cylinder Aichi Atsuta Ha-70-I engine, which refers to the He 119, the engine is installed in the middle of the fuselage behind the wing, and a set of reducers drives a 3.9-meter-long propeller, which passes through the fuselage from below to drive a pair of six-bladed variable-pitch propellers with a diameter of 3.8 meters in the nose.
R2Y1 景云
Engine cooling was achieved through the radiators under the fuselage and the oil cooler air intakes at the root of the wing. There is a ventral air intake at the rear of the engine that provides air intake to the turbocharger and also serves as an intercooler radiator inlet.
The Aichi HA-70 engine is turbocharged and rated at 3,400 hp (2,535 kW) at takeoff and 3,000 hp (2,237 kW) at 26,247 feet (8,000 m).
Jingyun uses traditional radiators, turbochargers, and tandem supercharged cockpits, but has a unique shape that is different from other Japanese aircraft. In order to achieve the maximum range proposed by the Navy, integral fuel tanks (with a total capacity of 3,500 liters) are set up in the left and right wings of Jingyun, and external auxiliary fuel tank pylons are added to the fuselage or wing bottom to accommodate two 400-liter or one 600-liter auxiliary fuel tank, so as to achieve the maximum range required by the Navy.
The R2Y1 has a wingspan of 14 meters and a length of 13.05 meters. It is 4.24 m high, has an empty weight of 6,015 kg and a maximum weight of 9,400 kg. Jingyun has an estimated top speed of 447 mph (720 km/h) at 10,000 meters and a maximum cruise speed of 288 mph (463 km/h) at 4,000 meters. The maximum firing range is estimated at 3,610 km.
Test flight site
The pilot sits under a raised bubble-like transparent cockpit at the front of the aircraft. The radio operator / navigator opened a window in the fuselage under the rear of the pilot.
自毁
By the autumn of 1944, the direction of the war had changed, and the Japanese Navy had reduced the need for land-based high-speed reconnaissance aircraft, and in fact there was almost no navy. The design team suggested that Jingyun could easily be changed to a fast attack bomber, and after being almost canceled, Jingyun was given another chance, and the Navy then decided to complete a prototype already under construction for a planned rapid attack aircraft flight evaluation. The attack aircraft will be jet-powered, designated R2Y2, and will be left in the next installment of the roll-back drawing board for details.
Run test before the first flight
In April 1945, the Aerotechnical Plant completed the first prototype of Keiun, but lacked a turbocharger, and then conducted a run test at the Kisarazu base in Chiba Prefecture. During the test, Jingyun exposed problems such as severe vibration of the nose landing gear and overheating of the engine.
First flight
On May 8, the Jingyun prototype made its first flight, but a serious engine overheating occurred, and the prototype was damaged in a forced landing. A few days later, the engine caught fire and was destroyed in the ground test car, and the heat dissipation of the rear-engined piston aircraft was a problem, and the parallel connection made the heat dissipation design even more difficult, and the prototype lacked a turbocharger and an intercooler inlet. For Japan, these technical problems were not unsolvable, but for the Imperial Japanese Navy, the days left were not many.
Repairs continued until late July, but the prototype was destroyed by U.S. air strikes before repairs could be completed. The second prototype was not completed before the Japanese surrender on August 15. Eventually, he was ordered to blast and throw the wreckage into the sea. @nordland Today's headlines original debut
Performance parameters
Crew: 2 people, pilot and radio operator
Length: 13.04 m (42 ft 9 in)
Wingspan: 13.99 m (45 ft 11 in)
Height: 4.23 m (13 ft 11 in)
Wing area: 33.99 sq m (365.9 sq ft)
Empty weight: 6,015 kg (13,261 lb)
Gross weight: 8,100 kg (17,857 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 9,400 kg (20,723 lb)
Fuel Capacity: 1,555 liters (411 US gal; 342 Imperial gallons)
Powerplant: 1 × Aichi HA-70 (unified) 24-cylinder, liquid-cooled, coupled V-12 piston engine with 2,500 kW (3,400 hp) take-off power 2,312 kW (3,100 hp) at 3,000 m (9,800 ft)
Propeller: 6-blade constant-speed metal propeller
Performance Top speed: 718.5 km/h (446.5 mph, 388.0 knots), 10,000 m (33,000 ft) Cruising speed: 463 km/h (288 mph, 250 knots), 4,000 m (13,000 ft)
Landing speed: 166 km/h (103 mph; 90 knots)
Range: 3,139 km (1,950 miles, 1,695 nautical miles)
Range: 3,611 km (2,244 miles, 1,950 nautical miles)
Service Ceiling: 11,700 m (38,400 ft)
Time to altitude: 10,000 m (33,000 ft) in 21 minutes
机翼载荷：238.26 kg/m2 （48.80 lb/sq ft）
Power/mass: 0,192 hp/lbs (0,316 kW/kg)
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