Description
After the Sino-Japanese Incident in 1937,
it was attacked by the Chinese Air Force on a small scale.
For this reason, the Navy felt the need for a high-speed fighter for base air defense, and
presented Mitsubishi with the development of the 14-prototype fighter.
Upon receiving this proposal, Mitsubishi
considered installing a powerful engine, and
since the engine they decided upon based on the requirements had a large diameter, they
used an extension shaft to reduce air resistance, placed the engine at the rear, and
squeezed the nose of the aircraft.
It has a design with an intricate spindle-shaped fuselage that is not found in conventional Japanese aircraft.
In 1942, the first prototype was examined and
it was pointed out that it had a fast landing speed and poor visibility, but
after changes such as modifying the windshield shape,
production began in September 1943 as the Raiden Type 11 (J2M2). It has started.
Raiden type 21 (J2M3) is
a type with strengthened armament, equipped with four 20mm machine guns instead of a 7.7mm machine gun, and
was produced in the largest quantity among all Raiden types.
After that, the 32 type (J2M4) was equipped with an exhaust turbine supercharger, the
33 type (J2M5) had a larger windshield and the engine was replaced with the Mars 26 type, and the Mars 26 type was not available, so the engine was the Mars 23 type
, the same as the Raiden 21 type. A total of approximately 500 aircraft were produced
, including the 31 type (J2M6), which had a larger windshield with the shell intact, and was used to intercept enemy bombers entering mainland Japan. 《Data》Type 21 (J2M3) Crew: 1 person Overall width: 10.795m Overall length: 9.7m Overall height: 3.81m Complete weight: 3,300kg Maximum speed: 596km/h Engine: Mitsubishi Mars 23 Type A Takeoff output: 1,820hp Armament: 20mm machine gun x 4
