E14Y “Glen”, Japanese Reconnaissance Floatplane

Photograph of E14Y "Glen" reconnaissance seaplane

Imperial Japanese Navy. Via Wikipedia Commons

Yokosuka E14Y1 "Glen"

Crew	2 in tandem cockpit
Dimensions	36'2" by 28'1" by 12'6" 11m by 8.54m by 3.8m
Wing area	205 square feet 19 square meters
Weight	2469-3527 lbs 1119-1600 kg
Maximum speed	153 mph at sea level 246 km/h at sea level
Cruising speed	104 mph at 3280 feet 167km/h at 1000 meters
Climb rate	16 feet per second 4.9 meters per second
Ceiling	17,780 feet 5420 meters
Power plant	One 340 hp (254 kW) Hitachi Tempu 12 nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine driving a two-bladed wooden propeller.
Armament	One flexible 7.7mm Type 92 machine gun in the rear cockpit
External stores	60kg (132lbs) bombs
Range	548 miles 882 km
Production	A total of 126 aircraft, mostly by K.K. Watanabe Tekkosho (1941-1943)

The Glen was designed specifically to be a submarine-borne reconnaissance seaplane, with floats and wings that were easily detached for stowage. It was the only type of manned aircraft to ever drop bombs on the American mainland, when a Glen from I-25 dropped four phosphorus bombs along the Oregon coast in an attempt to set the forests on fire. The aircraft also performed the Japanese damage assessment following the Pearl Harbor strike, and performed similar reconnaissance duties over other Allied ports until increased use of radar made such sorties impossible.

The prototype was completed in 1939 and went into production in 1941 after successfully winning its design competition against the Watanabe E14W. The Pearl Harbor reconnaissance mission was its operational debut.

The aircraft was handicapped by its inability to operate in any kind of rough seas. It also had miserable performance, making its early penetrations of Allied air space all the more remarkable.

References

Francillon (1979)

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