Yokosuka P1Y Ginga

what is it?

The Yokosuka P1Y Ginga (銀河, galaxy) is a twin-engine, land-based bomber that was designed by the Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal. Primarily produced by Nakajima and Kawanishi and flown by the Japanese Imperial Navy during the latter half of the Pacific War, it received the Allied reporting name “Frances”. The P1Y was designed as a successor to the prolific Mitsubishi G4M bomber during the early 1940s.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · 20 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 547 km/htop speed
• range 5,370 kmwithout refuelling
• size 13.5 tmax take-off weight
• built 1,098made 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 83 years ago, in 1943.
• 🏎️Top speed is 4.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 20 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 2 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 5,370 km: 30× 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

1943-08

introduced

1944

retired

1945

status

retired

number built

1,098

role

attack bomber

origin

Empire of Japan

engines

2× Nakajima NK9C Homare 12

crew

3

length

15 m

wingspan

20 m

height

4.3 m

max take-off weight

13.5 t

top speed

547 km/h

cruise speed

370 km/h

range

5,370 km

ceiling

9,400 m

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