I compared the technical characteristics of the best known fighters of World War II (considering those with propeller and piston engine) and I concluded that the last creation of the Japanese engineers outclassed all.

Even considering that this plane was built in only 2 pieces, and just performed a 45 minutes test flight on August 3, 1945, I consider it as the best fighter with propeller manufactured in World War II.

The plane carried four 30 mm canons in nose and had swept wings, showing some influence from the design of Me-262. However, as you can see from photos, its shape as the only canard plane of WWII makes it a complete independent design.

I see its speed (max. 750 km/h) was beaten just by Dornier Do. 335A-1 (the plane with 2 co-axial engines - max. 763 km/h) and Focke Wulf Ta 152H-1 (year 1945, max. 759 km/h). But neither of the 2 German planes carried 4 canons of 30 mm each.

I have a folder about this plane, and I forgot the source of the photo.
Something close can be also found on: http://www.russian.ee/~star/pictures/japan/kyushu_j7w.gif

This post has been edited by Florin on September 26, 2004 06:33 am

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The name of the plane is Kyushu J7W Shinden.

Photo from: http://www.studenten.net/customasp/axl/pic...=0&pte_id=11323

This post has been edited by Florin on September 26, 2004 06:31 am

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The armamament isn't that important. The four 20 mm guns on the Ta-152 were also very effective and had a higher rate of fire I presume, making it effective both against bombers and figthers. The Shinden was never tested in a dogfight unlike the Ta-152, so there is no way to know how it would have fared against other fighters.

Also, please post the source of the photos.

What were the results of the Ta-152 in combat ? How did it perform?

I belive the best prop plane of World War II, is the Fw-190D-9 "Dora", it had unbeatable performance in all fields, it was strong in every domain, and able to do well at very high altitude. I was also used alot, and if they had more fuel in those crucial last months, it would have achieved even more then it already did.


The Japanese design is original, I've never seen this plane before. I think it would have been very good, thinking that most fighters of Japan were really good and successfull planes. ie; A6M5 Zero, Ki-84, some of the best planes of ww2.

This post has been edited by Der Maresal on September 26, 2004 04:39 am

Source 1

In the photo I attached, you can see that the people in the right, and one in the middle, are Americans.
So this photo was done after the end of the war.

This post has been edited by Florin on September 26, 2004 06:40 am

The canard shape has certain advantages over the classic type of frame. It is more efficient. Of course, it also has its own specific problems, but the advantages are much greater.

The Shinden was supposed to counter the threat of the B-29.

It is interesting that both sides had aces in their sleeves, in the case of the American landing in Japan intended for the Fall / Autumn of 1945.

Japan was preparing a tactical jet bomber, inspired from Me-262, and a jet fighter, inspired from Me-163.

The United States built about 1500 of copies of the German cruise missile V-1. The Americans intended to launch their V-1's from ships, and to pulverize this way the defenses of the shores chosen for landing.

But the B-29s were escorted and if the escort happened to be a P-51H, which was faster than a Shinden, then things might not be so pink.

No one of the Japanese planes had any armour
And in a dog fight or ground attack ,thats BAD

I am not surprised about accounts claiming that as soon a Zero was touched, exploded like a grenade.
Because: It's 1050 HP Nakajina motor needed 65 liters of kerosen per 100 km (quite an economical motor, as many accept today).
The range of a "Zero" was 3200 km, and "range", according to my understanding, means also to be able to turn back. So to fly 6400 km, the "Zero" had in the beginning 4160 liters of kerosen. Quite a flying bomb!

But I have to remind you that Kyushu J7W Shinden and other Japanese planes made in 1945 were designed for a completely different war. Their only task was to defend the homeland, so they had short ranges, thus less fuel carried. But I agree, the absence of armor is the same big problem even when you have less fuel.
I knew about this problem in the Japanese planes of 1940...1943, but I have no idea about the design of Kyushu J7W Shinden. But I can give an insight of the cockpit.
Sorry, I don't know the source, because I made the download more than one year ago.

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I have a video game called "Wing Arms" for the Sega Saturn that let's you fly 7 allied and axis aircraft from WWII.

The Shinden is one of the planes and it is a real beast! It's the fastest of the game and can take out a plane with a quick one second burst of fire...not bad!

Fun game, who's knows if it's realistic or not.

PanzerKing,

I am glad at least one soul is on my side.

However, as you said, "Fun game, who's knows if it's realistic or not."

C-2 had a good point mentioning the lack of armor of the Japanese planes (and we have no clue if this one is an exception) and Victor had a good point mentioning that the P-51H was a formidable opponent for any Axis plane with propeller and piston engine.
The part I do not agree from Victor remark was his quote: "The armament isn't that important. The four 20 mm guns on the Ta-152 were also very effective and had a higher rate of fire I presume." If 4 canons of 20 mm are effective, to follow his point, 4 canons of 30 mm are by far more effective.

This post has been edited by Florin on September 28, 2004 03:35 am

Well, you missed my point. A 30 mm cannon has a slower rate of fire and far less ammo. For an unexperienced pilot (like the most of teh Japanese pilots were at that time) I would go with the higher rate of fire and more ammo, as he may have troubles hitting a target. Take teh P-39 for example. It had a 37 mm cannon, which could pulverize any Axis aircraft, yet this did not hapen so often.

Good poin Victor! I want to say same things... and another things:


- J7V was a bad plane. Advanced one, bad an worst baby. In that time it was no time and materials and space (american planes) for development and up-grades;
- if Shinden was projected with some influence, influences was from japanese derivative from Me-262 (i forgot the name, but i have a lot of offline info in my home HDD) - and this plane (reactive one) have direct influence from "262" - if you compare pics or drawings, you may see diference - was some;
- a plane like "263" (is hard to retain japanesse names!) it haves a little chances to chance some things;


When i first saw the Shinden pics and data (in Modelism, issue with romanian TAB and Tornado plane, no?) i had a question: "If Japan have <power> to born this thing, why they don't try it more in beginning". Latter, i read about german U-Boats with blue prints, materials, and even 20 m.m. guns, supplyng Japan...

Iama

PS - For years, was my "best" plane! Impressive fire power and speed, super-good loock!