Finished: Zero suprise

[comrade harps]

It will look something like an A6M5c. Because it is. But it's not. Which will be part of the narrative.  

The secret will be revealed when it's complete.

In progress photos once I start.

[Captain Canada]

 

[loupgarou]

It will look something like an A6M5c. Because it is. But it's not. Which will be part of the narrative. 

The secret will be revealed when it's complete.

In progress photos once I start.

An interesting philosophical question. Looking forward to it. 

[ChernayaAkula]

<...> Because it is. But it's not. <...>

An interesting philosophical question. Looking forward to it. 

Royal Danish Navy, then? 

[comrade harps]

Actually, the philosophical question about being an A6M5c or not being an A6M5c just got more complicated. It's the Academy 1:72nd kit and it clearly has fuselage mounted guns of two sizes, which, after consulting several sources, appears to be appropriate for the A6M5b (one 7.7mm and one 13.2mm), as the A6M5c eliminated the larger of the two weapons. The wing armament, though, appears to be right for an A6M5c (two 13mm and two 20mm cannon).

So, it appears to be a FrankenZero kit (although, of course, I'm going to whiff it up even more so). Is Academy at fault and the 13.2 mm gun needs to be eliminated (if you're doing it right, which I'm not) or are my multiple sources wrong?

[zenrat]

I find it very hard to believe Academy would make a mistake like that he said sarcastically...

[comrade harps]

FrankenZero WIP. If you look closely and use your imagination, you might see a hint of where I'm going with this.

[Old Wombat]

It's a biplane!

But will it have floats (not likely given the painted wheels in the photo), spats or retracting undercarriage?

[TallEng]

Well I think I can see A sky colored underneath to the main planes and a dark green for the top surfaces, that with the silver 'cowing' section showing on the underside of the main plane leads me to believe early BoB.
However being as this is the 'in the navy' group build,
This suggestion is clearly wrong......
But what if that 'Sky' colour is actually the elusive RLM 84 colour, and the dark green actually a late war RLM 82 or RLM 83, and the silver is actually bare metal?
Are we in fact looking at typical late war Luftwaffe painting practices?
Or in this case Kreigsmarine?
(You should see me with a black and white photo, my imagination knows no bounds)

Regards
Keith

[Captain Canada]

It's going to have jet power !

[Old Wombat]

OK, the biplane thing was a joke. Seeing the wings separated out like that ... Well, I just couldn't help it.

More serious; FAA in the Med or SEA.


(n.b.: I would have said USAAF or RAAF, given the solid green/olive uppers, but this is "In the Navy".)

[comrade harps]

It's going to have jet power !

You are a smart man 

[comrade harps]

A6M9 Hadō ryū
Kani, Honshu. Japan
302 Tokkō Tai Kokutai, Imperial Japanese Navy, March 1946



In early 1945 the Imperial Japanese Navy issued a request for proposals for existing aircraft that could be adapted to accept the Maru Ka10 pulsejet. One of the industry proposals adopted for production was Mitsubishi's A6M9 submission, which adapted new production and existing A6M5 airframes to accept a ventrally mounted pulsejet. These mixed-powerplant aircraft used the Nakajima Sakae 21 engine; when this engine went out of production in favour of the Mitsubishi Kinsei, the plan was to apply the pulsejet to the A6M8 to produce the A6M10, but none were completed. Instead, a program of reclamation began, rebuilding derelict A6M airframes of various models to accept the Maru Ka10, resulting in various, undocumented standards of conversion, all of which were simply designated A6M9 Hadō ryū (wave dragon).




This aircraft was discovered by American troops at Kani after the war in May, 1946 and subsequently removed back to the U.S., where it eventually became a exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute. Kani was one of several airfields that operated the A6M9. According to Japanese documents 49 A6M9s were available on Y-Day, 1 March 1946. The U.S. Navy recorded 5 shot down by fighters, with another 8 credited to anti-aircraft guns. 27 U.S. Navy vessels were struck by A6M9s, resulting in 10 ships sunk. Multiple aircraft, including 3 A6M9s, hit and sunk the aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto.



According to Lieutenant Commander Masaaki Higashiguchi, an chief engine technician at Kani, this plane was unable to take-off on Y-Day due to failure of the Sakae piston engine to start. This was unable to be fixed before the airfield was abandoned on Y-Day + 3, by which time all flyable planes had been sent into action. In interrogation evidence given to U.S. intelligence after the war, Higashiguchi detailed the design, construction and operation of the A6M9.



Numerous external points of interest in modelling the A6M9 are evident in his testimony. The extended tail wheel arrangement was necessary for reasons of ground clearance; it was also detachable, being removed when the airframe was jacked up for pulsejet engine ground runs and jettisoned following take-off, otherwise it would be damaged by the jet's exhaust. The main undercarriage was also jettisoned in flight, explaining the removal of the upper landing gear cover parts. He noted that the undercarriage bay was only closed-off by a clipped-on canvas sheet for combat flights. Since this plane was unable to fly its combat mission the bay was found uncovered by the Americans. It should be noted that the discovery of this plane was of great interest to the Allies, as their intelligence had failed to identify pulsejet augmented hybrids as being under development until they were fighting them on Y-Day.



According to Lieutenant Commander Masaaki Higashiguchi all A6M9s had their wing guns removed, the resultant cavities being filled with explosives. The fuselage weapons were usually retained for self-defence. This plane, based on a Nakajima-built A6M5c airframe, was found with its combination of fuselage-mounted 7.7 mm Type 97 and 13.2 mm Type 3 machine guns intact.   



Lieutenant Commander Higashiguchi's experience is itself of interest. In late 1945 he was assigned to the A6M9 program, rebuilding Sakae 21 engines and supervising their maintenance with the 302 Tokkō Tai Kokutai. On Y+5, all of the unit's personnel were ordered to the frontline on the Kanto Plains, where they were to serve as infantry. Walking to the front, their progress was slowed by poor footwear, illness and a lack of food, harassment by Allied air strikes and Honshu's heavily damaged road infrastructure. It took 3 weeks to reach the town of Odawara, close to the battlefront south-west of Yokohama, by which time they had lost about two-thirds of their force as casualties. At Odawara they were met by an American artillery barrage, leaving Higashiguchi with a fractured left leg and shrapnel wounds. He spent the remainder of the war recovering in hospital and was one of a handful of survivors from the A6M9 program found by the Allies.

[NARSES2]

I like that, well done 

[Dizzyfugu]

Cool idea, and IMHO a plausible case of technology exchange. I like the concept a lot.