Mitsubishi B2M

B2M
Role	Torpedo bomber
Manufacturer	Mitsubishi
First flight	28 December 1929
Introduction	1932
Primary user	Imperial Japanese Navy
Number built	206
Developed from	Blackburn Ripon

The Mitsubishi B2M was a Japanese carrier-based torpedo bomber of the 1920s and 1930s. It was built by Mitsubishi to a design by Blackburn Aircraft of Britain and was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy.

In 1927, the Japanese company Mitsubishi commissioned the British aircraft manufacturer Blackburn Aircraft to design an aircraft, which would be built under licence by Mitsubishi if successful, to enter a competition held by the Imperial Japanese Navy for a carrier-based reconnaissance and torpedo bomber to replace its B1M. Blackburn developed a design, the Blackburn T.7B, which was an enlarged development of their Ripon, which was under development for Britain's Fleet Air Arm. The T.7B was a three-seat biplane of steel tube construction and with high aspect ratio wings fitted with Handley Page slats, powered by a 466 kW (625 hp) Hispano-Suiza 12Lbr engine.

The design was declared the winner of the competition, with a prototype (referred to as the 3MR4) being ordered from Blackburn. This first flew on 28 December 1929 at Blackburn's factory at Brough, Yorkshire, and was shipped to Japan in February 1930.

Three development prototypes were built by Mitsubishi in Japan before the aircraft was adopted as the Navy Type 89-1 Model 1 Carrier Attack Plane or Mitsubishi B2M1.

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