Did you know…
Why did the B7A have an inverted gull wing?
Short answer
To shorten the main landing gear. The B7A adopted an inverted gull wing, similar to that of the F4U Corsair, for this purpose. Chief engineer Toshio Ozaki also chose a mid-wing layout that allowed for an internal bomb bay and gave clearance to the 3.5 m four-bladed propeller.
Why the wing bent downward
The Aichi B7A adopted an inverted gull wing, similar to that of the Chance-Vought F4U Corsair, to shorten the length of its main landing gear. Chief engineer Toshio Ozaki settled on a mid-wing layout that made it possible to house an internal bomb bay and guarantee sufficient clearance for the aircraft's 3.5 m (11 ft) four-blade propeller.
A bomber with a big engine
The new aircraft was to be powered by the eighteen-cylinder Nakajima Homare. In Japanese naval nomenclature, its production version was listed as Navy Carrier Attack Bomber Ryusei (Shooting Star) B7A2. Ryūsei, written 流星, means "shooting star".
A short production run
Aichi completed nine B7A1 prototypes and eighty examples of the production B7A2 version. A violent earthquake destroyed the Funakata factory, where the aircraft were assembled, in May 1945.
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