(Kyushu) J7W1 Shinden @·AIRCRAFTUBE

  • Kyushu J7W1 Shinden Kyushu J7W1 Shinden
    Kyushu J7W1 Shinden
  • Six-blade pusher propeller and small wheels under the fins Six-blade pusher propeller and small wheels under the fins
    Six-blade pusher propeller and small wheels under the fins
  • Colourised photo (1945) Colourised photo (1945)
    Colourised photo (1945)
  • Personnel posing in front of the prototype (1945) Personnel posing in front of the prototype (1945)
    Personnel posing in front of the prototype (1945)
  • Found by the Americans in a Fukuoka factory (1945) Found by the Americans in a Fukuoka factory (1945)
    Found by the Americans in a Fukuoka factory (1945)
  • Fukuoka (1945) Fukuoka (1945)
    Fukuoka (1945)
  • Fukuoka (1945)Fukuoka (1945) Fukuoka (1945)Fukuoka (1945)
    Fukuoka (1945)Fukuoka (1945)
  • Forward fuselage at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (NASM) Forward fuselage at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (NASM)
    Forward fuselage at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (NASM)
  • Unrestored cockpit<br>of the NASM J7W1 Unrestored cockpit<br>of the NASM J7W1
    Unrestored cockpit
    of the NASM J7W1
  • Full-scale replica (Godzilla Minus One) Tachiarai Peace Memorial Museum Full-scale replica (Godzilla Minus One) Tachiarai Peace Memorial Museum
    Full-scale replica (Godzilla Minus One) Tachiarai Peace Memorial Museum
  • Tachiarai replica Tachiarai replica
    Tachiarai replica

Kyushu J7W1 Shinden

The Kyūshū J7W Shinden (震電, "Magnificent Lightning") was a Japanese prototype fighter of the Second World War, with its main wings mounted at the rear of the fuselage, a canard foreplane in the nose and a pusher engine driving a propeller behind the wings. Designed for the Imperial Japanese Navy as a short-range, land-based interceptor, it was a direct answer to the Boeing B-29 Superfortress raids on the Japanese home islands, and was to be armed with four 30 mm Type 5 cannons concentrated in the nose. It was the only aircraft of canard configuration ordered into series production by any combatant nation during the war, but only two prototypes were completed, and the first flew just a few days before Japan's surrender.

Design and development

In the Navy's designation system, the letter "J" identified a land-based fighter and "W" stood for Watanabe Tekkōjo (Watanabe Iron Works) of Fukuoka, whose aircraft division became Kyūshū Hikōki K.K. (Kyushu Airplane Company) in 1943.

The concept came from Lieutenant Commander Masayoshi (or Masaoki) Tsuruno, of the Navy's technical staff, who had been studying canard pusher layouts since around 1940. In early 1943 he proposed the configuration for the 18-Shi Otsu interceptor specification, which called for a speed of 740 km/h at 8,700 m, a climb to 8,000 m in 10.5 minutes, a ceiling of 12,000 m and four 30 mm cannons. Tsuruno also believed that the layout would lend itself easily to a turbojet once a suitable engine became available.

To validate the idea, the First Naval Air Technical Arsenal at Yokosuka designed the Yokosuka MXY6, a small all-wood canard glider with a tricycle undercarriage. Three were built by Chigasaki Seizo K.K., and one was later fitted with a 22 hp Semi 11 (Ha-90) four-cylinder engine to extend its glides. The MXY6 handled well at low speed and proved reluctant to stall, and its successful trials convinced the Navy, which instructed Kyushu to design a canard interceptor around Tsuruno's concept. Kyushu, which had no experience of high-performance fighters, was chosen mainly because its design office and factories were not overloaded, and Tsuruno was seconded to the company with a team from the Arsenal to assist its engineers.

The Shinden had an all-metal monocoque fuselage, with the small canard foreplane, carrying the elevators, in the nose and the swept main wing at the rear. Each wing carried a vertical fin and rudder near mid-span. The four 30 mm cannons, with 60 rounds per gun, were to be grouped in the nose, where they had a clear field of fire free of any propeller. The pilot sat in a single-seat cockpit with armoured glass and a sliding canopy, directly ahead of the fuel tank.

The engine was an 18-cylinder, two-row Mitsubishi MK9D (Ha-43) air-cooled radial with two-stage supercharging, giving 2,130 hp for take-off. Installed behind the cockpit, it drove a six-blade, 3.40 m constant-speed propeller through an extension shaft and a remote reduction gear, which also powered a cooling fan. Cooling air reached the engine through long, narrow intakes on the sides of the fuselage. In an emergency, an explosive cord could sever the propeller and gearbox so that the pilot could bail out safely. A tall tricycle undercarriage was needed to keep the propeller clear of the ground.

Construction of the first two prototypes began in June 1944, stress calculations were completed in January 1945 and a mock-up had been inspected in September 1944. Bombing raids delayed the delivery of the engine, and the first prototype was finally completed in the spring of 1945, then moved to Mushiroda airfield (now Fukuoka Airport). During ground runs the engine overheated because of the poor airflow through the intakes, and these cooling problems, together with the shortage of some equipment, delayed the first flight.

Even before the prototype had flown, the Navy ordered the J7W1 into production, with a quota of 30 aircraft a month from Kyushu's Zasshonokuma factory and 120 a month from Nakajima's Handa plant. It was estimated that some 1,086 Shinden could be built between April 1946 and March 1947.

Flight testing

A first attempt to take off in July 1945 ended badly: the engine torque rolled the aircraft to the right, the nose rose and the propeller tips struck the runway and were bent. Small wheels were then fitted under the two fins to protect the propeller.

After repairs, the first prototype made its maiden flight on 3 August 1945 from Mushiroda, with Tsuruno usually credited as the pilot (some sources name test pilot Yoshitaka Miyaishi). Two further short flights were made on 6 and 8 or 9 August, the days of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for a total of only about 45 minutes in the air. The undercarriage was never retracted. The flights showed a strong pull to starboard due to the engine torque, a tendency to pitch nose-down, slight propeller blade flutter and vibration in the extension shaft. Corrections were planned, including a greater incidence for the foreplane, modified flap settings, an improved oil cooler and, on later aircraft, a four-blade propeller to reduce the torque effect. A speed trial was scheduled for 17 August, but all work stopped after the surrender on 15 August, and much of the documentation was burned the following day.

Variants

  • J7W1 : Piston-engined interceptor powered by the Mitsubishi MK9D (Ha-43) radial; two prototypes completed and a third under construction at the end of the war.
  • J7W2 Shinden-Kai : Turbojet-powered version, planned around the Ne 130 engine. It never progressed beyond preliminary studies, as no suitable Japanese jet engine was available.

Operators

  • Japan : Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (trials only).

Surviving aircraft

The two prototypes were the only Shinden ever completed. After the war one was scrapped; the other was claimed by a U.S. Navy Technical Air Intelligence Unit, partly repaired and repainted in Japan, dismantled and shipped to the United States in late 1945. Given the Foreign Evaluation number FE-326 (later T2-326), it was reassembled but never flown in America. Sources still disagree on whether it is the flown first prototype or the second airframe. The U.S. Navy transferred it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1960, and it remains unrestored, with its Ha-43 engine still installed. Its forward fuselage and canard are displayed at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum, near Washington Dulles Airport, while the other parts are stored at the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland. In the same collection, the museum also preserves the American canard fighter of the period, the Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender.

A full-scale replica, built by a production company that was at first not named, was unveiled at the Tachiarai Peace Memorial Museum (Chikuzen, Fukuoka Prefecture) in July 2022. It was later revealed to have been made by Toho Studios for the film Godzilla Minus One. Another full-size model was built around 2016 and shown at the Yoichi Space Museum in Hokkaido.

In popular culture

The Shinden plays a central role in Godzilla Minus One (2023), in which a restored prototype, fitted with an ejection seat, is used against the monster. A modified version, the Sanka Mk.B, also features prominently in the animated film The Sky Crawlers (2008), and the aircraft appears in Ted Nomura's comic Kamikaze: 1946.

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This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Kyushu J7W Shinden of Wikipedia ( authors )

Kyushu J7W1 Shinden

  • Role : Interceptor.
  • Manufacturer : Kyūshū Hikōki K.K.
  • Designer : Masayoshi Tsuruno.
  • First flight : 3 August 1945.
  • Status : Cancelled (prototype).
  • Primary user : Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service.
  • Number built : 2.
  • Comparable aircraft :

    • Specifications (J7W1)

  • Crew: one.
  • Length: 31 ft 8 in (9.66 m).
  • Wingspan: 36 ft 6 in (11.114 m).
  • Height: 12 ft 10 in (3.92 m).
  • Wing area: 221 sq ft (20.5 m²).
  • Empty weight: 8,036 lb (3,645 kg).
  • Gross weight: 10,864 lb (4,928 kg).
  • Max takeoff weight: 11,526 lb (5,228 kg).
  • Powerplant: One Mitsubishi MK9D (Ha-43) 18-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, with two-stage supercharger.
  • Power: 2,130 hp (1,590 kW) for take-off.
  • Propellers: 6-bladed constant-speed pusher propeller, 3.40 m (11 ft 2 in) diameter.
  • Maximum speed: 466 mph (750 km/h, 405 kts) at 28,500 ft (8,700 m).
  • Cruise speed: 262 mph (422 km/h, 228 kts) at 13,100 ft (4,000 m).
  • Range: 529 mi (852 km, 460 nmi).
  • Service ceiling: 39,000 ft (12,000 m).
  • Time to altitude: 26,000 ft (8,000 m) in 10 minutes 40 seconds.
  • Wing loading: 49 lb/sq ft (240 kg/m²).
  • Guns: 4 × 30 mm Type 5 cannons in the nose, 60 rounds per gun.
  • Bombs: 4 × 30 kg (66 lb) or 60 kg (132 lb) bombs under the wings.

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This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Kyushu J7W Shinden of Wikipedia ( authors )
Kyushu J7W1 Shinden : Your comments on this subject
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