Mitsubishi B5M

Development

It was developed in 1935 for use on new Japanese aircraft carriers. The first flight was made in 1937, in the same year was adopted. It was not used as widely as its more successful competitor Nakajima B5N .

Description

It was believed that this was the first version of the B5N with fixed gear, although the B5M was used by Japanese carrier-based aircraft in combat operations. It was a more conservative design with a fixed gear chassis with large wheel fairings, manual folding of the wings and a change in the pitch of the screw on the ground. He was armed with three machine guns, carried bombs weighing up to 1000 kg, developed a speed of up to 379 km / h.

Application

Despite its ease of maintenance and higher technologies used in construction, the aircraft did not become the main one in the Japanese Air Force. In the battles in China, he performed well, but was more often used to fly from coastal poorly prepared airfields. Therefore, already released aircraft were used mainly as part of coastal aviation and participated in battles in Southeast Asia. They were later handed over to training units. The last to operate them was the 33rd hikotai, where the B5M1 flew until 1943.

The specifications below correspond to the B5M1 modification.

Data source: Francillon, 1970.

Specifications

• Crew : 3
• Length : 10.234 m
• Wing span : 15.3 m
• Height :
• Normal take-off weight: 4000 kg
• Powerplant : 1 × Air-cooled Mitsubishi Kinsei 43
• Engine power: 1 × 1000 l. with. (1 × 746 kW)

Flight characteristics

• Maximum speed: 380 km / h at 2200 m
• Practical range: 2200 km

Armament

• Rifle and cannon: 1 × 7.7 mm machine gun in the rear cockpit
• Combat load: 800 kg bombs or torpedo

• Francillon, RJ Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War. - London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1970. - P. 491. - 509 p. - ISBN 0-370-00033-1 .
• Francillon, René J. Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1979. ISBN 0-370-30251-6 .