Японский разведывательный самолет-разведчик с авианосца "Сайун"

Japanese carrier based reconnaissance aircraft

The Nakajima C6N Saiun (彩雲, "Iridescent Cloud") was a carrier based reconnaissance aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in World War II. Advanced for its time, it was the fastest carrier based aircraft put into service by Japan during the war. The Allied reporting name was Myrt.

The C6N originated from a 1942 Imperial Japanese Navy specification for a carrier based reconnaissance plane with a top speed of 350 knots (650 km/h) at 6,000 m and range of 2,500 nautical miles (4,960 km). Nakajima's initial proposal, designated N 50, was for a craft with two engines housed in tandem in the fuselage, driving two propellers mounted on the wings. With the development of the class Nakajima Homare engine, the dual powerplant configuration was abandoned and Nakajima decided on a more conventional single engine layout. Unfortunately the new Homare's power output was less than expected, and the design had to be optimized in other areas. The resulting aircraft was designed around a long and extremely narrow cylindrical fuselage just large enough in diameter to accommodate the engine. The crew of three sat in tandem under a single canopy, while equipment was similarly arranged in a line along the fuselage. The C6N's low mounted laminar flow wing housed fuel tanks and was fitted with both Fowler and slit flaps and leading edge slats which lowered the aircraft's landing speed to ease use aboard aircraft carriers. Like Nakajima's earlier B6N Tenzan torpedo bomber, the vertical stabilizer was angled slightly forward to enable tighter packing on aircraft carrier decks. The C6N's first flight was on 15 May 1943, with the prototype demonstrating a speed of Performance of the Homare engine was disappointing, especially its power at altitude,