Kyūshū J7W1 Shinden - experimental fighter

The Kyūshū J7W1 Shinden (震電, "Magnificent Lightning") fighter was a World War II Japanese propeller-driven aircraft prototype that was built in a canard design. The wings were attached to the tail section and stabilizers were on the front. The propeller was also in the rear, in a pusher configuration. It was expected to be a highly maneuverable interceptor, but only two were finished before the end of war. Plans were also drawn up for a jet-powered version (J7W2 Shinden Kai), but this never left the drawing board. The J designation was used by land based fighters of the Imperial Japanese Navy and W is for Watanabe factory produced (later Kyūshū).

The J7W was developed for the Imperial Japanese Navy as a specific response to the B-29 Superfortress raids on the Japanese homeland. For this type of mission, the J7W was armed with 4 forward-firing 30mm cannons in the nose. It was to be operated from land bases. The canard concept was tested first by building a number of gliders with this layout, designated MXY6.

The first prototype, the only one to have flown, is currently in storage at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

General characteristics:

Crew: one, pilot
Length: 9.66 m (31 ft 8 in)
Wingspan: 11.11 m (36 ft 5 in)
Height: 3.92 m (12 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 20.5 m² (220 ft²)
Empty weight: 3,645 kg (8,019 lb)
Loaded weight: 4,928 kg (10,841 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 5,288 kg (11,663 lb)
Powerplant: 1× Mitsubishi Ha-43 12, 1,589 kW (2,130 hp)

Performance:

Maximum speed: 750 km/h (469 mph)
Range: 850 km (531 miles)
Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,360 ft)
Rate of climb: 750 m/min (2,460 ft/min)
Wing loading: 240 kg/m² (49lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 0.32 kW/kg (0.20 hp/lb)

Armament:

Guns: 4 × 30 mm Type 5 cannon
Bombs: Up to 120 kg (264 lb) bombload

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Kyūshū
• J7W1
• Shinden
• 震電
• type18
• fighter
• ww2
• plane
• Japan
• Imperial
• Military

[SrAlvaroEd]

Shinden Rocks

[zaratustrianin]

Nice, very nice ***** thank you for sharing. / Świetna robota Igor, oby więcej takich filmików przedstawiających mało znane samoloty.

[paullubliner]

I wonder how well this truly performed. QUITE similar to the Curtis XP55 Ascender.

[Work2SnowSki]

@TheMuffdivr German, Jap and Russians didn't rotate their experienced pilots back to be trainers as did the Americans and towards the end, the Germans and Japs were sending cadets up with 10 to 15 hrs flight time. Our best pilots came home to train the new cadets.

[anjedaisuki]

@salvador9596 全く同感です。WW2時代のドイツのメカニズムの信頼性と独創性­にデザインの合理性と先進性も素晴らしいですね。日本も工業力の­基盤がしっかりしていたら、まだまだ素晴らしい期待に出会えたの­ではないかと感じております。

[salvador9596]

@anjedaisuki 日本の飛行機とドイツは、戦争の最高だった。

[PATSAINT85]

Whenever I play the arcade game '19XX', I usually pick this plane, since it's offered as a choice

[kaisermuto]

USA sub marines have missile launcher now. But the basic conception came from Japanese

sub marine which was captured by USA after WWII . Japan had gigantic submarine with air fighter launcher and air plane in side of sub marine. Named "I-GO", pronuciation is igo. This sub marine was made to attack newyork via Panama canal. Now Japanese think it is stupid, but at the time military division thought seriously. We can not make them fool. Suppose they

knew USA. they didn't attack USA.

[TheMuffdivr]

Bet all the Dagos out there just love that comment Armydickhead,or why don't we just shorten it to plain Dickhead! I just love stirrin' that shitpot. 1st 25 aces of WWII were all German. The next 3 were Japanese. Russia's top aces scored 62 and 59. If I'm not mistaken, top US ace in the Pacific was Bong with his pathetic 40, since as you said, the Japanese were so "inferior", and he was in the thick of it since Pearl Harbor.Maybe he was doing too many hits on his "bong" and couldn't see clearly.

[Armydicked]

Japan had no business fighting WWII. From a Technological standpoint they were almost equal to Italy!!! People ask American P-51 pilots what was it like to go up against an Me264 jet fighter that was 100 faster? The Japanese Pilot ROUTINELY went up against US aircraft that were 100mph faster. Why? Overly Long development times, hyper-conservative Pilots. This I don't understand---Fockwe Wulf sold Japan several FW 190 A-8s (409mph) and they did not put it into production. The J7W1 looks cool!!

[shuutar]

現在震電はアメリカのＮＡＳＡの倉庫で眠っている。

しかも浸食が激しく復元できるかどうか不明らしい・・・

復元しないのかな？