Best Japanese fighter against USN planes

[Vraciu]

As in the title, which Japanese fighter (both IJAAF and IJNAF) was the best against USN planes - F6Fs, F4Us, TBFs, SB2Cs?

 

[wilbur1]

Iwent with the Tony just a better all round fighter in my opinion

 

[Thorlifter]

Yeah, I voted for the Ki-100. The N1K-J George would be my 2nd pick.

 

[renrich]

I have read the KI84 was the best of the Japanese fighters but I don't know if any of their late war fighters had much success. The big scores were usually posted by IJN guys in A6Ms.

 

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

Went for the Zero: biggest terror of the Pacific.

 

[Catch22]

I went with the Frank, it was basically a US fighter in disguise.

 

[syscom3]

I have read the KI84 was the best of the Japanese fighters but I don't know if any of their late war fighters had much success. The big scores were usually posted by IJN guys in A6Ms.

An experienced Japanese pilot in a fully functional and working late war fighter was still dangerous. They didn't have the chance to run up their scores, but they did have successes.

 

[Timppa]

Statistically, as I recall, the Mitsubishi J2M "Raiden" fared the best against USN planes.

 

[Venganza]

I'll admit I don't know as much about Japanases planes as I might, but since when has lack of knowledge prevented anyone from having an opinion (this is America, Dadgummit )? I went with the Frank. Good armament with 2 12.7mm's and 2 20's, relatively fast, and tough, especially for a Japanese plane. My second choice would be the low-wing George - 2 7.62mm's and 4 20's gave it a pretty fiercesome armament, albeit with limited ammo for the 20's.

Venganza

 

[renrich]

I agree that the Japanese pilots who were experienced near the end of the war were still formidable foes, regardless of what they were flying. I have a book by Saburo and he had victories in 1945(I think) in late model Zeros.

 

[Thunderbolt56]

Yeah, I voted for the Ki-100. The N1K-J George would be my 2nd pick.

Ditto.


The Ki84 was definitely formiddable, but by the time it entered service, the lack of high-octane fuel and diminished collective pilot-skill kept it from being all it could be.

 

[Gnomey]

Certainly the Ki-100 and the George are the best aircraft on the list although they where not available in large numbers (or relatively large numbers) unlike the Ki-84.

Still the best 2 would of done the best against the USN so I went with the Ki-100.

 

[Ivan1GFP]

My vote is for J-fighters in the following order:

N1K2-J
J2M3
Ki-84

I believe that the Ki-100 was just too slow to be competitive. It was slower than the Ki-61-II that it replaced but was quite a lot lighter and probably moved better.

The Ki-61-I was a beautiful fighter but was just too slow and underpowered. The Ki-61-II was never reliable.

IMHO, all of the late war Japanese fighters were much faster than typical book speeds. US Tests put the Ki-84 at 427 mph and the J2M3 at 407 mph. I am not convinced that high octane fuel did much to improve the performance because the engines were not designed for it.

As for how well they did, The 343 Kokutai was the elite Japanese Navy unit at the end of the war and from the book Genda's Blade, it seems to me that even they were only getting a victory-loss ratio of about 1-2 or 1-3. Their biggest issues were still pilot quality and mechanical reliability of their equipment in all areas.

Regards.
- Ivan.

 

[Vraciu]

I think that N1K2-J and J2M3 were better than Ki-84 or Ki-100 because they have better armament, which was important against well armoured USN planes. Their performance was average, so I think that IJNAF birds were better than those of IJAAF.

 

[Soren]

The Ki-84 was the best of the Japanese fighters, it was the fastest as-well.

 

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

Raiden Jack was a good plane. I think I read one of the reasons it did so well was because it's factory that made it was located near by, so they were able to get spare parts for broken Raiden's much easier. That meant a lot of Raidens weren't forced to be grounded for long periods in order to make repairs.

One other reason the Jack may have had a good kill ratio was because the B-29 bomber flight paths were directly overhead to it on one of the islands it operated from, so to it could quickly go into action and shoot down US bombers. I'm not sure it did really well against enemy fighters, but the bombers were what the Japanese wanted to shoot down most anyway, since they were the biggest threat to Japan.

 

[Wayne Little]

While I am a fan of the Zero, my vote goes to the final version of the N1K series the N1K2-J Shiden-kai.

 

[Yoshi Muroi]

My bet is on the KI84 although it was know the KI100 would beat it in a dogfight if you compare it to US fighters going over 700kph, which would have likely used hit and run tactics, the KI84 was one of Japans fastest fighters, later variants carried 20mm and 30mm cannon instead of the 20mm and 12.7mm giving more powerful guns. it outclasses the F6F and is comparable to the P51 and F4U, even if the KI100 or KI43 was highly agile American planes still would have used hit and run tactics to slower aircraft like the KI43 or Ki100. Finally most planes on the list were outclassed for example the KI61 was comparable to the P40, the A7M was a great 1942-43 aircraft but by 1944-45 it was struggling to keep up with faster American planes, like the zero it started to lack behind in speed, the N1K although very good against USN F6Fs and some ways surpassed it, but other planes like F4Us out ran it meaning the Americans would have used hit and run tactics against it. In late war turning time wasn't a huge factor in the pacific theatre, American pilots were well aware of Japanese aircraft and their ability to turn very very well and always used their superior speed to outrun planes like zeros or KI61s so in my option the KI84 was the most valuable and most effective against the US planes because of its high speeds, excellent armament, good protection and still a very fast turner.

 

[Conslaw]

I think the N1K2 and the Ki84 were both close enough in performance to 1944-45 US types so that a difference in pilot quality - either way, would be more important than which aircraft. Any Japanese type was at a disadvantage to any 1944-45 US type if the Japanese pilot was poorly trained, the fuel was poor quality, the engine was assembled with inferior materials, the plane was overwhelmed by superior American numbers or tactical intelligence (radar vectoring). All of that being said, If I could pick any Japanese type, I would go with the Ki-84.

 

[robin banks]

I vote Ki-100. Faster climbing AND more agile than Ki-61, which is known for being a pretty good plane (it made life hard for P-40 pilots-- they needed P-38 to counter it). They used the Ki-100s to protect Ki-61s attacking bombers, because they were better at dogfighting. Plus, Ki-100 was easy to fly, which was important when you do not have many expert pilots left!