Tamiya 60737 - 1/72 Aichi M6A1 Seiran WWI  [60737]

AICHI M6A1 SEIRAN

Immediately after the advent of aircraft and submarines during World War I, the combined operation of those two weapons had been considered by numerous nations. However, it was just the Imperial Japanese Navy which could put it to practical usage. During the outbreak for the Pacific War, numerous large-sized submarines of Imperial Japanese Navy had been loaded with catapult and small observation-type aircraft desiged to strike harbors and to bomb the U.S. mainland. Acknowledging the prosperity of former assaults by the Imperial Japanese Navy, it decided to prepare shock assault missions toward Panama canal by special submarineborne aircraft at the start of 1942. The airplane had been the Aichi M6A1 Seiran, designed exclusively fot this one exceptional objective. It had been in May 1942 once the Aichi Aircraft Company gotten requirements to develop and create a special attack bomber. At first, the employment of the then new Suisei bomber with a few adjustments ended up being proposed, however the transformation was found impractical because of the difficulty to have interchangeability of major assemblies. On November 1943, the initial prototype made its maiden journey. Undergoing a few improvements, the Aichi Aircraft business received an order for restricted production from Navy in May 1944. The engine was a 12-cylinder liquid-cooled Atsuta 32, that was based on the German Daimler-Benz DB603. A 12.7mm, type-2 flex mounted machine gun ended up being prepared at the back, and torpedo or a 250kg/800kg bomb might be carried. The Seiran would be to be carried by the I-400 course submarine within the hanger pipe of 4.2m in diameter and 30.5m in total. The hanger tube was effective at keeping three Seirans. They were kept on catapult releasing cars with armaments for quick ejection after surfacing. To handle the space limitation, the Seiran ended up being made to save area by folding the wings. The wings were pivoted in the main spar where it joined the fuselage. By rotating the best side downward, the wing could lie back flat against the sides regarding the fuselage. The outer portions of each and every stabilizer and elevator hinged at 90cm through the fuselage centerline and folded downward. Straight clearance had been obtained by folding the end regarding the fin toward right. 28 Seirans including a Nanzan, its ground-take-off-and-landing equivalent, had been stated in total by 1945, and submersible providers for them, the I-400 and I-401, were finished almost simultaneously. Obtaining the target changed from Panama canal to the U.S. Navy atmosphere art carriers staged at Ulithi Atoll as a result of change in priorities the war demanded, the first Submarine Flotilla like the I-400 and I-401 with three Seirans each departed Japan on 23 July 1945 for their very first and last objective. On 15 August, the flagship I-401 monitored a radio message from headquarters, informing them of Japan's surrender together with flotilla was ordered to return to the nearest slot in Japan. Therefore the chance to show the Seiran's worth had been missed forever.