Yokosuka P1Y Ginga ("Frances")
Click HERE to see a more detailed 3-view of the Frances
In many respects the Yokosuka P1Y Ginga ("Milky Way") was the navy equivalent of the army's Ki-67 Hiryu bomber. Although it was long in development, it was a modern aircraft, fast and powerfully armed. The prototype appeared in the summer of 1943. War needs made it imperative that the plane go into production several months before the navy officially accepted the aircraft, and when the plane entered service in October 1944, 453 planes had already been built. Operational duty was delayed until early 1945, however, because of continuing difficulty with the engines. The Yokusuka went into combat in the last stages of the war and proved to be a formidable plane. Production ended after 1,098 planes had been built. The Ginga was known as "Frances" in the Allied code.
Yokosuka P1Y Ginga
Type: Navy Bomber
Service: Japanese Navy Air Force (JNAF)
Crew: seven
Armament: four 7.7mm Type 92 machine guns (2 in nose, 2 in waist)
two 20mm Type 99 cannon (1 each in dorsal and tail turrets)
one 1764 lb (800 kg) torpedo or up to 2205 lb (1000 kg) bombs
Reference: Francillon: 386, Mondey: 203
Specifications:
Length: 63' 11.75" (19.50 m)
Height: 19' 8.25" (6.0 m)
Wingspan: 82' 0.25" (25 m)
Wing area: 841.01 sq. ft (78.13 sq. m)
Empty Weight: 18,409 lbs (8350 kg)
Max Weight: 27,558 lbs (12500 kg)
Propulsion:
No. of Engines: 2
Powerplant: Mitsubishi MK4T Kasei 25 14-cylinder radial
Horsepower: 1825 hp each
Performance:
Range: 2694 miles (4335 km)
Cruise Speed: 195 mph (315 km/hr) at 13125 ft
Max Speed: 292 mph (470 km/hr) at 16895 ft
Climb to/in: 22965 ft (7000 m) in 20 min 10 sec
Ceiling: 30250 ft (9220 m)
Production: approximately 1098 P1Ys total
Additional information on this aircraft
can be found at Wikipedia
HERE.
For several very nice scale color drawings of this aircraft, see
here
(3 versions available on left).
Additional color schemes for this aircraft can be found here.
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