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I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

2 comments:

Stephen said...

That's....original. Had to cheat and found a write-up of this one. Unusual to see props from the rear.

CyberKitten said...

From Wiki: The Kyūshū J7W Shinden (震電, "Magnificent Lightning") is a World War II Japanese propeller-driven prototype fighter plane with wings at the rear of the fuselage, a nose-mounted canard, and a pusher engine.

Developed by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as a short-range, land-based interceptor, the J7W was a response to Boeing B-29 Superfortress raids on the Japanese home islands. For interception missions, the J7W was to be armed with four forward-firing 30 mm type 5 cannons in the nose.

The Shinden was expected to be a highly maneuverable interceptor, but only two prototypes were finished before the end of war. A jet engine–powered version was considered, but never even reached the drawing board.

On 3 August 1945, the prototype first flew. Two more short flights were made, a total of 45 minutes airborne, one each on the same days as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred, before the war's end. Flights were successful, but showed a marked torque pull to starboard (due to the powerful engine), some flutter of the propeller blades, and vibration in the extended drive shaft.

YUP - Pushers are *odd*. Interesting though...! I think (from memory) that one of these appeared in Godzilla: Minus One.