60737 Tamiya 1/72 Japanese aircraft Aichi M6A1 Seiran

Additional Information

Shortly after the first combat use of submarines and aircraft during the First world war, many countries began to consider the joint use of these weapons. But only Imperial Japan was able to realize these plans. By the beginning of the war in the Pacific ocean, many large Japanese submarines were equipped with catapults to launch small reconnaissance aircraft capable of striking at the territory of the United States. At the beginning of 1942, the Japanese Navy developed an unexpected attack on the Panama canal, for this purpose it was planned to use Aichi M6A1 Seiran, specially designed for this task. In November 1943, the prototype made its first flight, after tests and improvements in may 1944, production was launched. As the engine used 12-cylinder Atsuta 32, based on the German Daimler-Benz DB603, the aircraft could take a torpedo or 250/850 kg bomb. Seiran was planned to be transported in submarines of class I-400, hangar 4.2 meters in diameter 30.5 meters long could accommodate three aircraft. With the course of the war changed priorities and goals, July 23, 1945 submarines I-400 and I-401 came to the first and last mission.August 15, 1945, I-401 received a message about the surrender of Japan with orders to return to the nearest Japanese port. So was lost the only chance to test the effectiveness of aircraft Seiran.