This is too cool if it would happen - US Navy having search and rescue amphibians again? Yes, you could say the Shin Meiwa US-2 has a "face only a mother could love", but damn, to me it's beautiful in all its brute utility, just like an English Bulldog! Hope it happens instead of that lame Hercules on floats they were showing around.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/jTnzxYRl5qo[/youtube]

BTW, take a look at the US-2's insane short water takeoff capability. 900ft apparently! All due to blown boundary layer wing. Bring on the Shin's!

[youtube]http://youtu.be/t4iRXMOMm9M[/youtube]

Wonder what happens when an engine fails in the low, slow, high lift configuration.

It has as much power as a C-130, 4 x 4590 HP. Max gross is 120,000 lbs.

Plus it has a 5th engine, a 1400 HP turboshaft engine running a compressor for the boundary layer lift system.

Only 8 of them exist from what I read.

Mike C.

In rough seas short distance take offs and slow rotation speeds are king. does anyone know how rough the water can be? max wave height?

more info

3 m wave height

https://www.naval-technology.com/projec ... amphibian/

Interesting design

It was a derivative of the US-1, and they had more of those. Back in the early 2010's I couldn't tell the difference between the two at MCAS Iwakuni.

Shin Meiwa built a four engine amphib when my Dad worked there from 1958-1960. Not sure if it is the same one shown in the pictures (I have 8mm movies of it somewhere). Shin Meiwa is on the coast and configured for amphibian repair and overhaul. They did a lot of work on PBYs when we were there. Fun time as a kid to watch all this.

My Dad was the Lockheed P2V-7 Neptune empannage tooling specialist at the time.

Dan

One take on the chances for acquisition:

https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/p/se ... e-worst-in

Cdr Sal is frequently worth reading on matters naval/amphibious.

RAS

Well, I thought my dream plane for my back yard was a PBY Catalina. I’m sure some in my cove would complain. Until G100UL is available, I better move the Shin Meiwa to the top of the list. Maybe I could turn my pool into a fuel depot.

Check out the STOL takeoff at around 6:00 - absolutely insane!

Another view...this one is on Ogasawara.

https://youtu.be/Knk80FvXkto?si=n9LzWxs7Ln2rwceL

A 5th engine, 1400 HP, runs the boundary lift system, basically it blows air over the wings.

The plane essentially levitates off the water.

The plane looks complex to operate and maintain. Seems like a sea going plane wouldn't need a short runway since oceans tend to be big by definition.

Mike C.

Thought I would just add this here (not necessarily related to the amphibian tests):

slow landing and takeoff speed coupled with a short take off distance is a real advantage on the ocean where it is usually always rough.

I assume they can use the blown wing on landing also as it is a 5th engine thus short landing also

Great aircraft. this is what the US should buy not try to make a crazy conversion out of the C130

Interesting article on ShinMaywa in AW&ST recently. They only build one a year because their only customer is the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) and that's all they want. Increasing production would bring the unit cost down but the JMSDF isn't interested, and there's no other market for the plane in Japan. The company would like to market it outside Japan, but the government won't let them use any plane as a demonstrator, even after the JMSDF retires it, and they can't afford to build a civilian one on spec.