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U.S. Navy. Via Francillon (1979)
Yokosuka
B4Y "Jean"
| Crew | 3 |
| Dimensions | 33'3" by 49'3" by 14'3" 15m by 10.15m by 4.36m |
| Wing area | 538 square feet 50 square meters |
| Weight | 4408-7937 lbs 2000-3600 kg |
| Speed | 173 mph 278 km/h |
| Climb rate | 47.4 feet per second 14.4 m/s |
| Service ceiling | 19,685 feet 6000 m |
| Power plant | 1 700 hp (522 kW) Nakajima
Hikari 2
nine-cylinder radial engine driving a two-bladed propeller |
| Armament | 1 flexible 7.7mm Type 92 machine gun in rear of cockpit |
| External stores |
1 1760-lb (800 kg) torpedo or 1 1100 lb (500 kg) bomb |
| Range | 970 miles 1560 km |
| Fuel | 183 gallons 693 liters |
| Production | A total of 205 aircraft by 1938, mostly at Mitsubishi - Nagoya. |
"Jean" was a Japanese
biplane
torpedo bomber in the same class as the British Swordfish.
Designed by Kawasaki Sanae to meet a 1934 requirement, it used the
efficient wings of the E7K1 "Alf"
and the prototype first flew ino late 1935. Production began in
November 1936 and the aircraft remained part of the air groups of
Japanese carriers until 1940, seeing service over China.
The U.S.
Navy expected that the Japanese would be flying this sort of
obsolete
aircraft off of their carriers
when war
broke out, but "Jean" had already been relegated to training units, and was probably
never encountered by the Western Allies
in combat.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007, 2009 by Kent G. Budge. Index
