B6N (Family)

Visual comparison of the Nakajima B6N bombers

Description

The B6N, known by its Allied reporting name as "Jill," was a Japanese carrier-based torpedo bomber used during World War II. As a successor to the earlier B5N "Kate," the B6N was designed with improvements aimed at enhancing speed, range, and payload capacity to meet the demanding requirements of naval aviation warfare. Despite its advanced design intentions, the B6N faced several challenges throughout its development and operational deployment.

One of the primary issues encountered with the B6N was its powerplant. The initial engine selection proved problematic, leading to reliability issues that hindered the aircraft's performance. It wasn't until the adoption of a more reliable engine, the Mitsubishi Kasei, that the B6N began to fulfill its intended role more effectively. This engine switch improved the aircraft's overall performance, offering better speed and range compared to its predecessor.

In terms of maneuverability, the B6N was designed to be agile, allowing it to undertake the complex maneuvers required for torpedo bombing runs as well as to evade enemy fighters. Its speed was an improvement over the B5N, making it a more formidable adversary and a harder target for Allied fighters. However, like many aircraft designed for one specific role, its versatility was limited, and under heavy anti-aircraft fire or when engaged by enemy fighters, the B6N's survivability was challenged.

The aircraft's payload capacity was a significant upgrade, allowing it to carry a larger torpedo or a greater number of bombs. This made the B6N a more versatile asset in the Japanese Navy's arsenal, capable of performing both torpedo attacks against Allied shipping and bombing runs against ground targets. However, the B6N's increased capabilities also made it a larger and heavier aircraft, which impacted its handling characteristics, especially at low speeds and during takeoff and landing.

Despite these improvements and challenges, the B6N played a crucial role in Japanese naval aviation during the latter part of the war. Its deployment in significant battles highlighted the evolution of naval air tactics and the continuous push for technological advancements in aircraft design during World War II.

Nicknames being:

• ▅ - Tenzan (天山, Heavenly Mountain)
• ▃ - Jill

Vehicles

Rank I

• B6N1 Model 11 - Tenzan Model 11

Rank II

• B6N2 Model 12 - Tenzan Model 12
• B6N2a Model 12Ko - Tenzan Model 12 Ko

History

Development

In 1939, the Navy requested a new torpedo bomber to replace the quickly ageing B5N. The design team, led by Matsumura Kenichi, met the 1939 Navy specification to replace the B5N almost entirely by using a much more powerful engine and tweaked wing design. Stowage restrictions on carriers ruled out significant improvements in the airframe, other than eliminating the forward sweep of the vertical tail surface on the B6N. Like the B5N, the B6N had no bomb bay, carrying its torpedo under the fuselage offset to the side (to clear the oil cooler).

The prototypes were ready in the spring of 1941, but it was found that the vertical tail surface had to be tilted slightly to compensate for propeller torque. The modified aircraft handled well, but the Nakajima NK7A Mamoru engine had serious teething problems as Nakajima was stubborn on using an engine of its design instead of complying with the navy's suggestion of using the Mitsubishi Kasei engine, and carrier acceptance trials at the end of 1942 showed the landing hook was too weak. Carrier trials were completed in early 1943, and the aircraft was finally accepted for production. Even then, there were reports of rudders tearing loose during takeoff due to turbulence from the engine, requiring further redesign of the rudders. But because of the complications of the engine hurt the economic side of the production and thus outweighed the benefits of its reliability and long range. The full-scale production of the B6N could only be introduced by 1943. In the end, Nakajima grudgingly agreed to replace its engine with that of Mitsubishi to allow full production.

Design

The B6N had a maximum range of around 1,900 km with a service ceiling of about 9,000 m. The plane itself had a total length of around 10.8 m and a total weight of 3,010 kg. The reliability of the B6N in the field was excellent, thanks to the engine power being much better than the B5N.

Combat History

After the B6N1 was introduced in mid-1943, examples were immediately issued to the last remaining aircraft carrier groups, such as on the Japanese carrier Zuikaku. By late 1943, the B6N2 was in full service within naval and land-based units around the South Pacific, even though it still didn't immediately replace all older B5Ns in service.

With the fewer remaining Japanese carriers, the B6N was used often from land-based units, with prime examples being its debut year seeing first combat at Bougainville in November 1943, operating from land bases around Rabaul. It was so common for B6Ns to be used as a regular bomber instead of a carrier-based bomber that Nakajima had to revise a 3rd model of the B6N, being the B6N3 to have a modified undercarriage to give it a better rough field capability. However, this variant didn't get produced as the war ended.

By 1944, B6N's operating from Japanese carriers engaged in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, but with the lack of experienced Japanese pilots, allied air power and air defence, little damage was sustained to enemy ships and results were averaged for the B6N.

By late 1944/1945, like most Japanese aircraft, the B6N was launched from land-based airfields to be used as Kamikaze as a last resort of the plane, as chances of coming back from a conventional attack were already as slim.

Variants

B6N1 mod. 11

Prototype stage of 2 planes fitted out with the Nakajima NK7A Mamori 11 engine. Production of the B6N1 went up to 133.

B6N2 mod. 12

Main production variant of the B6N featuring a Mitsubishi MK4T Kasei 25 engine. 1,131 Built as B6N2/B6N2a

B6N2a mod. 12A

Revised tail armament, 7.7 mm Navy Type 92 was replaced with a 13 mm Navy Type 2.

B6N3 mod.13

Performance improved by using the Mitsubishi MK4T-B Kasei 25b. Modified landing gear for land-based take-off and landing. 2 prototypes built.

Media

Videos

The Shooting Range #293 - Pages of History section at 04:22 discusses the B5N and B6N torpedo bombers.

Japan bombers
Navy
Carrier-based attack bomber
B5N	B5N2
B6N	B6N1 · B6N2 · B6N2a
B7A	B7A2 · B7A2 (Homare 23)
Carrier-based dive bomber
D3A	D3A1
D4Y	D4Y1 · D4Y2 · D4Y3 Ko
Shipboard Observation seaplane
F1M	F1M2
Land-based Attack bomber
G4M	G4M1
G5N	G5N1
G8N	G8N1
Flying boat
H6K	H6K4
H8K	H8K2 · H8K3
Land-based Bomber
P1Y	P1Y1
Army
Light	Ki-32
	Ki-48-II otsu
Heavy	Ki-21-Ia · Ki-21-I hei
	Ki-49-I · Ki-49-IIa · Ki-49-IIb · Ki-49-IIb/L
	Ki-67-I Ko · Ki-67-I otsu
Other countries	▅B-17E