In an alternate universe, the Aichi-produced B7A "Ryusei" (nicknamed "Grace" by the Allies) might have proved a genuine whackasaurus-rex ship killer that routinely blew the guts out of doofus American or British carriers that crossed its path. Such were the hash-pipe dreams of Nipponese Imperial Navy admirals in 1941, who eagerly wanted to amp up their torpedo-carrying aircraft fleet and do the big dirty on Japan's enemies.
As they envisioned it, the Ryusei, a new, hotroded version of the Nakajima B5N, would heave Japan's deadly accurate, destructive 1,764lb aerial torpedo (the Type 91) or an equivalent weight in bombs and fend off overeager adversary fighters with two fixed 20mm cannons in its leading wing edges and a single 7.92mm or 13mm machine gun at the rear cockpit position. To accommodate this warhammer's humongo four-bladed propeller, it featured gull wings not unlike the F4U Corsair. And to relieve space-strapped hangar bays aboard Japan's carriers, it also obligingly featured hinged wing sections. Power wise, a Nakajima NK9C Homare 18-cylinder, air-cooled, radial piston engine of 1,825 horsepower kicked the bird up to 352 miles per hour, a reasonably respectable speed. Range extended to 1,890 miles, and the service ceiling reached 36,910 feet. Overall dimensions came to a length of 37 feet, 8 inches, a wingspan of 47 feet, 3 inches, and a height of 13 feet, 5 inches.
All in all this ornery ninjutsu looked every bit the hate machine; but typical of Japan's overarching rotten luck, the Ryusei suffered from a host of ruinous issues, including engine development snags, scarcity of parts, lack of tolerable ave gas, inadequate crews, and an earthquake that shook its factory to dust. By the time the manufacturer recovered from these concerns and produced a scant 114 production aircraft, Japan no longer had carriers to fly them from, which essentially trashed the bomber's
raison d'être. Circumstances forced the navy to deploy these B7As from land-based airfields, which ultimately junked their usefulness.
The B7A finally saw front-line service in September 1944 but contributed little to Japan's frenzied war effort. Its one ignominious claim to fame was the sinking of the USS
Ommaney Bay, an American aircraft escort carrier (CVE-79), on the afternoon of 4 January 1945. As the carrier transited the Sulu Sea west of the Philippines, a Ryusei attacked bow on, hidden by the sun's blinding glare. The plane clipped the
Ommaney's island, dropping part of the superstructure and then crashing into the deck itself, one of the kamikaze's two bombs penetrating the deck and detonating below, the other rupturing the fire main and exploding near the starboard side. The plane's flaming wreckage hit a TBM torpedo bomber, sparking a fire that consumed the aft part of the flight deck. Water pressure forward was lost immediately along with power and bridge communications.
Men battled the horrific blazes but were forced to retire owing to thick black smoke and exploding .50 caliber ammunition. Destroyer escorts attempting to assist the
Ommaney Bay pulled back because of ammunition cooking off and the imminent threat of catastrophic detonation. Nonetheless, the destroyer
Bell maneuvered close but collided with the carrier, damaging her port bridge wing. By 17:45, crew members had removed the wounded, and by 18:12, Captain Young gave the order to abandon ship. At 18:18, torpedoes stored in the aft end detonated, collapsing the flight deck and launching debris onto nearby destroyers, killing two crewmen aboard the USS
Eichenberger. By the time Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf ordered the USS
Burns to torpedo the
Ommaney Bay at 19:58, ninety-five sailors had died aboard the carrier.
Ironically, Aichi engineers never anticipated the B7A becoming such a smash hit.
Warmaster was a hit & miss manu that produced both interesting models (especially armor types) and toss-away garbage. This B7A rated somewhere in between, neither dumpster trash nor masterpiece, a brave but barren attempt to reproduce a rather obscure Japanese warbird. Apart from accuracy issues, the weathering was typically ham fisted, and for that I recommend this model only to those who ignore gross imperfection for owning unfamed and mostly unrecognized warbirds.