Aichi E16A Zuiun

what is it?

The Aichi E16A Zuiun (瑞雲, Auspicious Cloud), (Allied reporting name "Paul") was a twin-seat reconnaissance seaplane designed and produced by the Japanese aviation company Aichi Kokuki KK. It was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Designed as a replacement for the Aichi E13A, work began on the aircraft as the AM-22 in 1940, to which the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) drafted a new specification around in early 1941. It was a conventional low-wing monoplane furnished with floats and dive brakes; although atypical for a seaplane, the dive brakes had been added due to the aircraft's secondary role as a dive bomber. The aircraft was almost entirely made of metal and armed with three 7.7 mm machine guns, one of which was rear-facing and flexibly-mounted.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · twin-float gear · 12.8 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 439 km/htop speed
• range 1,176 kmwithout refuelling
• size 4,553 kgmax take-off weight
• built 256made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 84 years ago, in 1942.
• 🏎️Top speed is 3.4× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 12.8 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🌍Range of 1,176 km: 7× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.1× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1942-05-22

introduced

1944

number built

256

role

reconnaissance floatplane

origin

🇯🇵 Japan

makers

Aichi

engines

1× Mitsubishi MK8D Kinsei 54

crew

2

length

10.8 m

wingspan

12.8 m

height

4.8 m

max take-off weight

4,553 kg

top speed

439 km/h

cruise speed

333 km/h

range

1,176 km

ceiling

10,000 m

wings

monoplane

landing gear

twin-float gear

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.