Nakajima C6N Myrt

The Nakajima C6N was started in early 1942 for an Imperial Japanese Navy requirement to develop a much needed long-range carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft. The result was an airframe similar to that of the B6N Tenzan, a carrier-based torpedo-bomber. The C6N parts included a fuselage incorporating camera ports and observation windows and a 1,820 horsepower Nakajima Homare 11 radial engine. First flown on May 15, 1943, the C6N had a very disappointing performance. As a result, the Homare 11 engine was replaced by a more powerful Homare 21 engine before the type was ordered introduction in early 1944 as the Navy Carrier Reconnaissance Plane Saiun (C6N1). Allocated the Allied codename ‘Myrt’ when it entered service in the summer of 1944, the C6N1 was so swift that it was almost completely immune from interception by Allied fighters. By the time production ended in August of 1945, 463 total C6Ns had been built, including a few of the C6N1-S two-seat night-fighter; conversions from the C6N1 aircrafts, and a powerful C6N2 prototype with the new 1,980 horsepower Homare turbocharged engine. The Nakajima C6N is one of the less known, but definitely a very important fighter aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy.