US-2 training in Chichijima, Ogasawara Islands Part5 

I was stationed in Iwakuni for many years. I loved watching the JMSDF practice water landings and takeoffs on the surrounding waters.

Hi, a lot of people are commenting on the short take off. This is because US-2 is more unique than you even dreamed. It's a five engine active lift-augmented aircraft. 4 engines for propulsion, 4500 hp each, and one for active lift augmentation (also called Boundary Layer Control), 1300 hp. You can hear the lift-augmentation engine whining in the video, and you can see its intake/exhaust in the bulge at the wing root. This fifth engine runs a centrifugal fan (think 1300 hp leaf blower) to supply high pressure air to the flaps and also to the tail control surfaces of the aircraft. By blowing very high velocity air off these surfaces the coefficient of lift is doubled - US-1 achieves lift coefficient of 7. It can generate over twice the lift per unit wing surface of comparable size aircraft. Very high lift also keeps the wing small so the high speed performance is exceptional (for an amphibian, that is). Thanks to the low minimum flight speed, radically short take-off and very fast climb, the US-1 can operate in deep wave troughs of high seas. To my knowledge it's the only aircraft in the world operating today with such a system. I can imagine it must be horrifically expensive to build!

何度見てもUS2の滑走距離の短さには驚かされる。

「滑水開始まだかな〜」と10秒ずつスキップしてたら、その10秒の間にもう滑水終わって離水しているという。 ほんま、相変わらずかっけぇ。

川西の水上機の系譜。 日本が世界に誇れる名機。 性能、美しさ見事に融合されている。

Przepiękny samolot. Japończycy umieją budować łodzie latające! Dziękuje za filmik. Pozdrowienia z Polski!

短い距離でフワリと浮かぶ 飛び立つ時の美しさ

Greetings from the USA! Amazing footage of an amazing plane. The sight of this plane taking off in a cloud of spray is breathtaking.

I know most would disagree, but there's really something beautiful about that plane! It's such a proud looking beast of an aircraft, and I was truly stunned by how little space it needed to take off! Thanks for the video :-)

Shinmeiwa’s predecessor was Kawanishi. Kawanishi built the H8K flying boat, which had 50% more range then the current US-2. Its speed was also very good, being only 50 mph slower than the most modern example. Keep in mind that the H8K first flew in 1941, almost 80 years ago!

That is a beautiful piece of machinery & engineering...... That take off was surreal!

Thank you for these videos! The US-2 is such a phenomenal aircraft. The short takeoff run and initial climb rate are fantastic. The lift produced by those wings is amazing! Plus, great camera work - some excellent framing, especially at the very end.

こんな基地があったのにビックリ🤭‼️ 日本🇯🇵は、島国なので、一杯あると良いですね💓😀💓

I always have regretted that flying boats went out of service. Good to see that some countries still use them! A very impressive machine too.

Thank you for the wonderful video! I love the US-1 and US-2 so much. They're proper flying boats, not float planes as we mostly get today. So I'm really happy Shin Meiwa keeps the spirit of flying boats alive with these beauties! Also, very impressive STO thanks to the boundary layer control system. Would love to see them over here in my country. Greetings from Germany!

Once was a time when seaplane were about as common as land based ones. Nice to see that you can still find them.

Nice to see that seaplanes are not out dated and still useful. Thanks for sharing.

Amazingly short take off run! Growing up on the West Coast of Canada I've seen many float planes and flying boats through the decades. From an elderly N3N-3, Cessna 180 on floats, Beechcraft B-18 on floats, Beaver, Turbo Beaver, Otter, Twin Otter, Grumman Goose, Grumman Albatross to the ponderous Martin Mars. None got up on the step and then airborne as quickly as this beautiful aircraft.

Hot dam. That big thing jumps right out of the water. Very nice 👍

What an amazing airplane! The best amphibian in the world! The blown surfaces give it spectacular STOL performance on take offs and landings. The sea spray from the downward exhaust of the blown flaps makes it quite a sight to watch. It makes it the safe craft amphibian because gets off the water so quickly and lands, stoping quickly. I even read there was a proposed 100 seat passenger version. “That” would have been fascinating!

very impressive and fast take off... love the shape of the US-2.

My great grandmother was a 2nd cousin to Glenn Curtiss (the man who invented and patented the stepped hull flying boat back in 1913). He also patented the amphibious feature of having retractable wheels on the flying boat. :-)

Sounds like a c-130, had the look of a b-52 looking head on, powerful machine.

Putting variable pitch props on a seaplane is just pure genius

音が良い P2JやP3Cみたいで懐かしい 今年の正月も昼夜問問わず時暖気していたな　鹿屋海自

What a beautiful seaplane! So impressive when she goes to full power and all but leaps from the water like a large bird of prey! I sent this to all my friends.

もう一言で、かっけーーに尽きる！😆😆

WOW, What a short take-off! That was really neat to see. Thank you.

What an impressive (and short !) takoff...

amazingly short takeoff - got a lot of GRUNT that thing !

It just leeps out of the water, an incredible aircraft

The engineering on these things has always amazed me. The way they throw the exhaust gas over the flaps to shorten the takeoff roll is an example of something that you don't see very often today, and it certainly gives this huge bird a very impressive takeoff performance.

性能は最高傑作だと思います。何度見ても素晴らしく感動的です♪　我が国には絶対必要な航空機です。

Wow wow wow!!! So amazing to watch this giant aircraft leap from the waves with ease! Gives me goose-pimples. Thank you keroza emon!

Sounds great. Thank you.

Beautiful footage of a beautiful plane. Thank you for making, and posting this video

Remarkable! What an efficient and beautiful hidroplane.

Worked with these and the JMSDF Squadron in Iwakuni (MCAS Iwakuni) back in the 90's.

Love this aircraft ...............well done JAPAN .

Fantastic video. No stupid music or annoying robo-narration. I love prop driven flying boats (amphibian in this case, I guess), too bad so few countries use them anymore. Like others, I was amazed by how quickly that plane got airborne and climbed. As of this writing this video has 94 dislikes. What the hell is wrong with people? Why would this video get a dislike? If you don't like aircraft, don't watch, but why "dislike" it?

Liked this plane the moment I saw it. Admired it the moment I read the specs. Loved it when you see a take off performance like THAT! Thank you!

Wow. Take of run in 6 seconds....very impressive...

Que avião impressionante beautiful !!

Wow! That take off was very impressive. I’m a sea plane pilot and I’ve never gotten off the water that fast.

The front nose view looks just like the 鉄人２８号's face. Amazing!!!

如何にも日本らしい航空機で好き

フルスクリーンで拝見し、迫力のある動画に感動しました。水上での脚入れなども分かったし、回転中のプロペラがピタッと止まる現象もなく大変見やすかったです。

初飛行当時からUS -2が大好きです　一生乗る機会なんてないと諦めていますが、せめて間近で見たいと思っております

The US-1A was always a favorite of mine as a child. Something about a flying boat, proper. With the US-2, Shinmaywa has built themselves a fine craft.

Wow what an incredibly short take-off!

When I was a kid my grandma's house was on a hill overlooking San Diego Bay (this was in the early 1950s). The Navy had some PBM Mariners stationed at North Island and they would take off from the bay, fly out over the channel and out to sea. It was fascinating to see such a large and ungainly-looking aircraft pull itself out of the water and into the air. It seemed like they would never get airborne - what a contrast with this new seaplane! Actually, the successor to the PBM, the P5M, bears a striking resemblance to the US2, except that it had only 2 piston engines instead of 4 (or 5) turboprops.

She is beautiful! Didn't know that anyone was still working on the flying boat concept. Best wishes.

I learned a lot from this video. My experience is with single engine seaplanes. The floats always leak due to the pounding they get in high speed taxi, takeoff, and landing; so the first thing you have to do is pump out the compartments. I think I see that this craft has a double hull, the outer bottom to take the impact of the water and the inner hull for reliable flotation. I think I see the double bottom can retain the water for dropping on fires, or drain immediately for short takeoff. Thanks and I wish I could kick the tires on this beauty!

WOW! never seen a flying boat enter the water like that, the undercarriage is painfully narrow too, I would not like to land on a runway but what a gorgeously cool aircraft and what a short take off run for an aircraft that size.

Fascinating aircraft. I had to look at the map to see where the Ogasawara Islands are located, but once I had it makes perfect sense that Japan operates these for patrolling its many outlying islands.

I think seaplanes are the best. I have always found them fascinating.

Absolutely gorgeous takeoff beautiful airplane

US--2 . Fantastic Amphibian . Simply Beautiful . Greetings from Brazil.

1:21〜 誘導員との対比からも この機体は何気にデカい。 単独だとむしろ 小さく見えたりするのに…？

Got to watch these planes when I was on a 2007 detachment to Iwakuni, very impressive seeing them up close and during takeoff.

Greetings from California! I don't think I've seen this aircraft type before. Thank you for sharing, I really enjoyed that.

Very short takeoff .......impressive

スゴいぞUS-2…最高😃⤴⤴

wow! It's amazing how quickly that thing took off!

ハワイの山火事を知って、これの消火艇があれば多くの人達が助かったと思った。新明和はUS1を水を大量にまく消火艇を開発してたがコストがかかり中止した。だがUS2に開発データを適用して再度開発したら？日本も火災が起きるし政府が6機持ち海自基地で運用。安心だ

I have loved the US-2 since the first time I learned about it a few years ago. I noticed recently the US was looking at the possibility of creating a float version of the C-130. Maybe they should take a look at buying some US-2 planes instead.

映像がいいね。冒頭のゴムボートを追いながら向こうに映り込むus-2。

WOW! Awesome! The power-to-weight ratio on that craft must be amazing!

秘密基地からの発進感が凄い良い！

Thank you for this wonderful video - I've always loved the US-1, PS-1 and US-2 - the last Kawanishi. Have also enjoyed building Ojimak's paper scale flying model, and I'm in the process of designing a profile scale model right now in CAD engineered for maximum flight performance. Interesting to see the filming from the Ogasarawa Islands, as they are the location of the fictional South Ataria Island where the SDF-1 Macross landed in 1999 - though not really, which is a pity...but that's where it would be. With kind regards.

Very nice Video. Thanks and best Regaards from North-East-Germany

That's an amazing amount of power coming off those engines, it nearly jumped out of the water!

This aircraft has fascinating high-lift devices. I would love it if someone did a walk around to show us those “fifth engine” design features.

水上機の離陸シーンは格好いいですね！！

The Japanese make good looking aeroplanes. The work needed to operate from corrosive sea water must be enormous.

Great footage. Thanks for posting.

台風接近のため天候不良ですね。私は、岩国で、硫黄島。南鳥島を間に挟み通信員として、10年間飛行艇と付き合ってきました。最初は、PS1(対潜哨戒機.)でしたが、4機(43名?)の犠牲者を出しました。当時ラッパ隊に属しており、葬送式に涙ながらにラッパを吹いていました。以後、改良がなされ、US1,US2と現在に至っているものと思います。父島に空港ができれば、飛行艇の出番もなくなるのでしょうね。

Dear God! That thing can take off and land in a fish tank! I’ve never seen a sea plane leap into the air like that!

Great video. Thanks for sharing!

l' Immanquable et toujours le remarquable Shinmaywa! Il reste le meilleur des hydravions japonais actuel dans le monde, je l' ai vu de près avec un potentiel incroyable! Merci pour la prise de vue magnifique...

Absolutely amazing aircraft a real treat that can't be beat massive thank you for posting greetings from steve in England

Japan is one of the few countries in the world, to have mastered amphibious aircraft. If you look closely at belly of the Aircraft in the middle there is a movable ski section to help break the suction that occurs during water take offs, that very few amphibious aircraft have. It save a lot of energy on take off this way. The US-2 also serve with the Indian Navy who has 12 for delivery started in 2016 from ShinMaywa Industries, Ltd and has recently been completed.

The balance of thing is simply incredible

Fascinating Plane, do the wing floats flip up to the wing tips?

I notice that it dumps it's water ballast from the very first part of the take off and it is still pouring out, but at a much reduced rate, towards the end of the clip. About 1 minute. Very nice, getting lighter all the time as it climbs.

Awesome aircraft, and stol!!!

When I first saw the seaplane, I thought it was a C-130. Then I noticed that it had a Tee tail. It is a magnificent machine.

Amazing aircraft (or flying boat)....it took off in just 13 seconds!

awesome footage, thanks!

旭日旗を掲げたゴムボート、機動力高そう！　そして、総集編とのタイトルに恥じない、素晴らしい映像！　車輪を格納するシーンもリアルに見せていただきました！

"I Love the US-2. The power and it's size is outstanding. It has an easy Takeoff ratio, and I think it is a number one water Transit."

I can say that this is a beautiful sea plane with the latest prop engine.

Boa noite meu Amigo !!!! Que aeronave fantástica. Lindo demais. Muito obrigado pelo vídeo e parabéns pelo canal. Abraço do Brasil.......

Impressive short take off.

Dave needs to buy six of these ASAP.

давно хотел за эту лодку посмотреть хоть что нибудь, спасибо от души бе 12.

Hey boys, great!! Is it filmed somewhere around Kyosho and its southern island? I have been there as post doc years ago. All the best! Watashi no namae Doc Nobody Thomas) desse ;-)

Hi from Texas and the takeoff on that was short and quick while throwing water out. awesome

Technology @ it's best..congratulations Japan

Самолёт красивый, спасибо за видео.