OT: Name that plane / ship

[Chickenboy]

Here's today's mystery plane:

[BBfanboy]

Must be a Nate or a Claude - if that thing sticking through the windscreen is the only MG on it.
What would the red and yellow dots on the fuselage in front of the pilot be for? To make sure he doesn't shoot there??

[Reg]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

Must be a Nate or a Claude - if that thing sticking through the windscreen is the only MG on it.

It's not a MG. http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4117886&mpage=1

[Reg]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

What would the red and yellow dots on the fuselage in front of the pilot be for? To make sure he doesn't shoot there??

The red dots will be the fuel filler caps* and the yellow is probably oil (radial engines used a lot and oil tanks were topped up at the same time as the fuel tanks).

* Note rearward position of the cockpit and that there is nothing in that section of fuselage (must be all tank**) and that it is located over the wing centre section so the aircraft centre of gravity doesn't move too far as it empties. <end of lesson> [;)]

** They appear to be large fuel tanks for an aircraft of this size. (For long range or big bang????) [&:]

[Reg]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: JeffK

KI-44 II hei of 2nd Chutai, 47th Sentai.

That's more like it. [8D]

Hey, you didn't want me to look it up did you... [:'(]

[JeffroK]

Ki 115 Tsuragu

[JeffroK]

ORIGINAL: Reg

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: JeffK

KI-44 II hei of 2nd Chutai, 47th Sentai.

That's more like it. [8D]

No one answered so I used wiki, very few had the blue fin flashes, mostly yellow.

Hey, you didn't want me to look it up did you... [:'(]

[Reg]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

Ki 115 Tsuragu

Ahhh, Jeff you beat me to it. [:(]

This plane is actually a new one to me but its design (very cheap construction) hinted at its role (disposable kamikaze) so it was relatively easy to find.

(I wasn't going to post this but as Jeff has nailed it...) Nakajima Ki-115 Tsurugi Suicide Fighter

..." Japanese authorities were equally optimistic and projected a monthly output of 8,000 such aircraft with hundreds of factories committed to the effort."

Wow!! [X(]

[JeffroK]

I play AndyMac's Downfall a lot, there's millions of them.

[Jorge_Stanbury]

That landing gear... Looks precarious because it was supposedly detachable. No need to keep it since it was a one way trip.

Interesting they were optimistic about 8000 a month. I can't see them getting enough AVGas

[MakeeLearn]

The "Sword"

[MakeeLearn]

Allied Vandals....

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: Jorge_Stanbury

That landing gear... Looks precarious because it was supposedly detachable. No need to keep it since it was a one way trip.

Interesting they were optimistic about 8000 a month. I can't see them getting enough AVGas

They were sending people out into the countryside to harvest the roots of pine trees to make a substitute fuel. The program failed because it took 2/5 man hours of work per gallon of fuel.

This has a series of reports on alternative fuels Japan was trying to make:
https://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/240213-types-of-aviation-fuel-used-by-japan-in-ww2/

The Germans were making avgas through coal liquification and I see a link on a similar program in Japan in the above link. It could be done, but it's very energy intensive, you need a lot of coal per gallon of fuel produced and it isn't even anywhere near economic today, 75 years later.

Bill

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn



Allied Vandals....

Looks more like the work of Visigoths, or maybe Hellcats. [:D]

Bill

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

Ki 115 Tsuragu

Atta boy, JeffK. [:)]

[Chickenboy]

Here's today's plane du jour.

Note: The basic ID is pretty straightforward, but I need the Mk. number for full credit.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Reg
This plane is actually a new one to me but its design (very cheap construction) hinted at its role (disposable kamikaze) so it was relatively easy to find.

That was my first thought too, Reg. Looking at the display with all the other well-modeled well...models...I happened across this one. Looking at the landing gear, lack of armament and generally unrefined lines, my instinctive reaction was, "What a piece of ****!" [:D]

Then I looked at the label and it made more sense.

[MakeeLearn]

MkVIc

[MakeeLearn]

reports on alternative fuels Japan was trying to make:

WitPAE
tm.asp?m=4174147


REPORTS OF THE U. S. NAVAL TECHNICAL MISSION TO JAPAN 1945 – 1946


http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/primary_ ... MJ_toc.htm


X-38(N)-2 Japanese Fuels and Lubricants-Article 2, Naval Research on Aviation Gasoline

X-38(N)-4 Japanese Fuels and Lubricants-Article 4, Pine Root Oil Program

X-38(N)-6 Japanese Fuels and Lubricants-Article 6, Research on Diesel and Boiler Fuels at the First Naval Depot, Ofuna

X-38(N)-7 Japanese Fuels and Lubricants-Article 7, Progress in the Synthesis of Liquid Fuels from Coal


and some of the others.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn

MkVIc

Nope.