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U.S. Navy. Via Wikipedia Commons
Aichi M6A
Seiran ("Mountain Haze")
| Crew | Two in tandem cockpit |
| Dimensions | 40'3" by 38'2" by 15'0" 12.26m by 11.64m by 4.58m |
| Wing area | 291 square feet 27 square meters |
| Weight | 7277-9800 lbs 3301-4445 kg |
| Speed | 295 mph at 17,060 feet 475 km/h at 5200 meters |
| Cruising speed | 184 mph at 9.845 feet 296 km/h at 3000 meters |
| Climb rate | 28 feet per second 8.6 meters per second |
| Ceiling | 32,480 feet 9900 meters |
| Power plant | One 1400hp (1044 kW) Aichi AE1P Atsuta 30 12-cylinder inverted-V liquid cooled engine driving a constant speed three-blade metal propeller. |
| Armament | One flexible 13mm Type 2 machine gun in the rear cockpit |
| Bomb load |
2 250 kg (551 lb) bombs or
1 850 kg (1874 lb) bomb or 1 800 kg (1760 lb) torpedo |
| Range | 642 nautical miles (1190 km) |
| Production | A total of 28 A6Ms were
built at Aichi Kokuki K.K., Eitoku: 6 M6A1 prototypes (1943-10 to 1944-10) 20 M6A1 production aircraft (1944-10 to 1945-7) 2 M6A1-K trainer prototypes (1945) |
| Variants |
The M6A1-K was a trainer with
retractable landing gear. |
The M6A Seiran was built specifically for use on the Sen-toku class aircraft
carrying submarines. The
original specifications called for a fast aircraft without an
undercarriage, but the design was revised to use twin detachable
floats. The wings and tail surfaces could be tightly folded for stowage
and, in spite of their complexity, the aircraft could be prepared for
flight in less than 7 minutes. Its performance was comparable with
land-based light bombers and it might well have been able to penetrate
the defenses of its intended target, the Panama Canal.
A squadron of these aircraft were to be launched
from south of the Panama Canal, fly east and north of the canal at low
altitude to evade radar, then turn
back south to attack the gates of the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side
with torpedoes. The Japanese estimated that destruction of the gates
would disable the canal for six months. Due to a lack of skilled
torpedo pilots, the attack plan was subsequently changed so that only
two aircraft would use torpedoes and the rest would make a glide
bombing attack. In 1945 the plan was further changed to a kamikaze attack.
However, by the time the aircraft and submarines were ready, the fortunes of war had turned so badly against the Japanese that attacks on either the Panama Canal or the U.S. West Coast were ruled out as useless gestures. The mother submarines with their aircraft were deployed instead against Ulithi Atoll, the principal American carrier base in the western Pacific. However, the surrender order was received just before the attacks were launched, and the submarines were surrendered to the Americans while en route to Japan.
Only many decades later was it revealed that the
Seiran had been painted in American colors for their final suicide
attack. The aircraft were all ditched at sea before the Americans
intercepted the submarines to avoid possible charges of violating the laws and customs of war.
References
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