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KAWASAKI Ki - 45s TORYU ( DRAGON KILLER)
Code name NICK by the Americans
The two seated twin - engined craft were night interceptors. All Dragon Killers were heavily armed with up to five machine guns, while many had a unique installation of twin 20mm cannons mounted to shoot upward at a 30 degree angle. As they attacked from below the B-29s they could strike the vulnerable underside of the bombers. This deadly arrangement worked very well as they downed many B-29s using this method.

http://b-29s-over-korea.com/Japanese_Ka ... aze04.html

Anyone seen this before?

afaik it was germans who developed such method of attack (Schräge Musik)

i've found some more photos and info http://users.belgacom.net/aircraft1/avion1/79.html

ORIGINAL: Marten

afaik it was germans who developed such method of attack

I know the Germans used a simalar setup with their night fighers very effectively, but i
had not seen or heard of it being used by the Japanies.

ORIGINAL: Marten

afaik it was germans who developed such method of attack (Schräge Musik)

[cut]

Yes, they used this tactics especially for Me-163 Comets.

Best Regards,
Radzy

the me 163 was not equiped with angeled 30 mm cannons, as far as I know, only the bf110 nightfighter had those........

Inventor of Schraege Musik was probably Oberleutanant Rudolf Schoenert, Staffelkapitaen of 4./NJG 2

"who initiated the process that led to the general adoption of what came to be known as Schraege Musik...Schoenert himself having experiment with upward-firing 7.9 mm MG 15 machine-guns in a Do17Z-10...." (Peter Hinchliffe - The Other Battle).

it was in spring '42, and at the end of 1942, Schoenert had 23 kills to his credit.

If I remember well, Japanese Irving nightfighters had guns firing upwards AND downwards at around 30% angle, both situated behind the wings and the cockpit.

Upward guns were useful for night fighting, downwards were added if I still remember well because it was not easy to fly lower than a skipping-bomb B-17. They were never used in aerial combat AFAIK but prove useful for strafing missions in a few cases.

Servus!

They also bombed attacking B17s with Me flying 1000m above the bomber-formation.
The bombs had time fuse, so it was a little bit of a poker.
It was in July 1943.

Gruß
Harald

Well,if ya' wanna get real technical,ya' might look way back to 1916 with the Be2,and anything else that could not fire thru the prop.
Even the Boulton Paul Defiant was an early (for WW2) major expenditure along the same lines??[

ORIGINAL: wild_Willie2

the me 163 was not equiped with angeled 30 mm cannons, as far as I know, only the bf110 nightfighter had those........

He-219 had those too. One of the best night fighters IMO.

yes, great looking plane but only a pittyfull few where actually produced..

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: wild_Willie2

yes, great looking plane but only a pittyfull few where actually produced..

Yes... exactly...

According to my books the best German WWII night fighter was:

Heinkel He-219 "Uhu" (Nightowl)

First prototype flown in Nov 1942 but, unfortunately for Germans, the project was canceled in May 1944 so only some preproduction aircraft were build (100-300) which equipped certain night squadrons (operationaly used from April 1943).

1/NJG11 at Venlo in the Netherlands shot down 20 RAF aircraft (including 6 Mosquitos) in first 6 sorties by that unit.

On 11 June 1943 major Werner Streib shot down 5 Lancasters bombers in single sortie...


Leo "Apollo11"