Yokosuka R2Y

Yokosuka R2Y
General information
Type	Reconnaissance, Fighter
Manufacturer	Yokosuka
Status	Cancelled
Primary user	Imperial Japanese Navy (intended)
Number built	3 (1 completed)
History
First flight	8 May 1945

The Yokosuka R2Y Keiun (景雲 - "Cirrus Cloud") was a prototype reconnaissance aircraft built in Japan late in World War II.

Commissioned for the Imperial Japanese Navy after the R1Y design was cancelled due to its disappointing performance estimates, the R2Y used coupled engines driving a single propeller and also featured a tricycle undercarriage.

Completed in April 1945, the prototype made a short flight on 8 May, but was destroyed in a US air raid only a few days later, thus ending development.

A proposal was also made to develop the R2Y into a turbojet-powered light bomber by replacing its piston engines with two Mitsubishi Ne-330s. Designated the R2Y2 Keiun Kai, was not constructed before the end of the war.

Data from Japanese Secret Projects: Experimental Aircraft of the IJA and IJN 1939–1945,^[1] Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War^[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: 2 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 m² (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 L (411 US gal; 342 imp gal)
• Powerplant: 1 × Aichi Ha-70 (unified) 24-cylinder liquid-cooled coupled V-12 piston engines, 2,500 kW (3,400 hp) for take-off

2,312 kW (3,100 hp) at 3,000 m (9,800 ft)

• Propellers: 6-bladed constant-speed metal propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 718.5 km/h (446.5 mph, 388.0 kn) at 10,000 m (33,000 ft)
• Cruise speed: 463 km/h (288 mph, 250 kn) at 4,000 m (13,000 ft)
• Landing speed: 166 km/h (103 mph; 90 kn)
• Range: 3,139 km (1,950 mi, 1,695 nmi)
• Ferry range: 3,611 km (2,244 mi, 1,950 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 11,700 m (38,400 ft)
• Time to altitude: 10,000 m (33,000 ft) in 21 minutes
• Wing loading: 238.26 kg/m² (48.80 lb/sq ft)
• Power/mass: 0.316 kW/kg (0.192 hp/lb)

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Heinkel He 119 (tandem-engine with single propeller)
• Kawasaki Ki-64 (tandem-engine with single propeller)
• Messerschmitt Me 509
• Tupolev Tu-91

Related lists

• List of aircraft of World War II

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yokosuka R2Y Keiun.

• Francillon, René J. (1979). Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War (2nd ed.). London: Putnam & Company. ISBN 0-370-30251-6.
• Millot, Bernard (November 1975). "Le Yokosuka R2Y". Le Fana de l'Aviation (in French) (75): 11–14. ISSN 0757-4169.