In this video, we take a look at the Aichi B7A Ryusei, a Japanese carrier-based Torpedo and Dive bomber from World War II that was the largest and heaviest attack aircraft in the Imperial Japanese Navy's arsenal. We first talk about the growth and evolution of Japanese carriers, from their tiniest carriers built just after World War I to their carriers that rivaled Allied carriers in WW2. We then talk about the effective size limits on carrier based planes due to how carriers are designed, and how a new breed of Japanese carrier led to that size limit increasing, which then led to the B7A Ryusei.

We then talk about the performance and overall size of the B7A, being faster, heavier, and larger than the planes it would be replacing, like the Nakajima B5N, B6N, and Yokosuka D4Y, while also being as good, if not better, than the Mitsubishi A6M Zero. We talk about the very slow development process of the B7A due to engine development issues and how, when actually ready for production, the B7A had no carriers from which to operate. We end by talking about Japanese carrier losses, the attempt to use the B7A from land-based sites, and how the B7A was one of the most unfortunate planes of WW2.