R2Y (Family)

Description

The Yokosuka R2Y was a prototype reconnaissance aircraft meant for the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Nicknames being:

• ▅ - Keiun (景雲, Cirrus Cloud)

Vehicles

Rank V

• R2Y2 Kai V1 - Keiun-Kai Model 22
• R2Y2 Kai V2 - Keiun-Kai Model 32
• R2Y2 Kai V3 - Keiun-Kai Model 42

History

Original R2Y1 Prototype

After the cancellation of the R1Y design due disappointing performance estimates, Yokosuka Naval Arsenal further developed a high-performance high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft with a maximum speed of 740 km/h and a cruising range of 3,333 km or more.

The plane had a Ha-70 engine which was a compound engine composed of two 1,700 hp 12-cylinder liquid-cooled inverted V-12 Aichi Atsuta aircraft engines driving a single six-blade propeller.

In the Autumn of 1944, as jet engines got more attention and the Ne-330 being developed by Mitsubishi, there were plans to mount this new engine on the air-frame and call this variant the R2Y2 KAI making it a jet attacker instead.

In 1945 the first R2Y1 prototype was completed and test flights were scheduled for May at Kisarazu airfield, during the first planned test flight, there was an engine malfunction and was rescheduled. During the second test flight, a fire broke out in the engine room and a emergency landing had to occur. The total flight time of the flight was 10 minutes and the plane was only slightly damaged.

After the test flight, the plane was up for repairs to replace the engine, but was bombed during the process. The first prototype plane was the only R2Y to be completed, there was a second plane in the makes, but is rumored to have been bombed together with the first prototype and couldn't be outfitted with a Ne-330.

For the jet attacker conversion there were two plans to outfit the engine on the R2Y, the first being to simply hang two engines on the wings and the latter to build in the engine with the fuselage and have the air intake in the nose to feed two jet-engines in the back of the fuselage. These plans are speculation and the reality of these vehicles is unclear like many other Japanese prototypes.

Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal (海軍航空技術廠)
Bombers	D4Y1 · D4Y2 · D4Y3 Ko
	P1Y1 mod. 11
Jet fighters	R2Y2 Kai V1 · R2Y2 Kai V2 · R2Y2 Kai V3
Captured	␗P1Y1 mod. 11
	While the arsenal was simply known as the Naval Air Technical Arsenal and usually referred to as Kūgi-shō (Kaigun Kōkū Gijutsu-shō).
	The name Yokosuka prevailed however, even though it referred to the Arsenal's location.
See also	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal (Shipyard)

Japan jet aircraft
IJNAS
Experimental	Kikka
Reconnaissance	R2Y2 Kai V1 · R2Y2 Kai V2 · R2Y2 Kai V3
IJAAS
Fighters	Ki-200
JASDF
Fighters	F-86F-30 ▅ · F-86F-40 ▅ · F-86F-40 JASDF▅
	F-104J
	F-4EJ Phantom II · F-4EJ ADTW · F-4EJ Kai Phantom II
	F-15J · F-15J(M)
	F-16AJ
	F-1
Trainers	T-2 Early · T-2
Foreign
Thailand	▄AV-8S · ▄F-5E FCU