Best Naval Fighter

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They thought it was going to be one plane for one ship, when even when the ship was sunk it took around 4 planes to strike it at very least.
 
Actually there is a jet aircraft that the Japanese designed JUST 4 the Kamikaze use: the Kugisho Okha 22 -
Wingspan: 4.1 m (13 ft 6 in)
Length: 6.9 m (22 ft 7 in)
Height: 1.2 m (3 ft 9 in)
Weight: Empty, 545 kg (1,202 lb)
and it carried a 600kg warhead that is good 4 splitting Allied warships in half but they, like many other new models, had come out 2 late and saw very limited service.
 
'Twas fast, but all in all, crap.

It was first of all, a rocket, and second, very vulnerable due to the fact that its Betty mothership was a sitting duck...


On its first operational mission, all the motherships were destroyed before they were even in striking range of the target!
 

Ya, that's the baku bomb. They were not particularly successful. It was hard to hit the target with it, even if it was totally undefended. And the Betty's carrying them were quite vulnerable.
 
The Betty was arguably the most vulnerable bomber of the war since it carried so much fuel and so little armor. And the Baka's could avoid the fighters but still had to run a very impressive gauntlet of AA fire just to get near a US carrier. The effectiveness of the American defenses was the reason many kamikaze attacks were made against the out-lying DDs instead of capital ships.
 

The Betty was also hurt by the fact its tail gunner could only traverse the gun slightly to the left or right. US pilots knew they could just sit on its six slightly low and skid to fire right into the side of it with virtually no chance of taking fire from the gunner.

Again, the biggest problem for the Baka, once it was released, was that it was very hard to manuver. Pilots had a hard time hitting the target ship even w/o any defensive fire. And Baka pilots had no real hands on experiance in the thing - they had to learn on their first and only flight.

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Lunatic
 
The first model Bakas (#11 and #21 I believe) were driven by 3 solid propellant rocket engines. This relied on a close launch as there was little endurance from the rockets. To extend the range jet verisons were built. A later version (#22) was the jet powered version. However the jet was a bit of an oddity. It wasnt a true jet in the sense that the compressor at the front of the jet was driven by a turbine at the back of the jet. This jet actually used a small gasoline engine to turn the compressor stages of the jet, just like the Italian Caproni Campini CC2. The Italians referred to this design as the "Thermojet". Finally the #43 was built with an actual turbojet.
 
Were those versions actually used? If so did they have any success?

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Lunatic
 
The only ones Ive ever read that were used were the rocket powered versions mainly the #11 but a few #21's. They really came out about the time Okinawa was invaded and a few hits were scored. Notably the USS West Virginia that was greatly damaged, other hits were made on the USS Alpine, Archerner and Tyrrell.

On another raid the USS Mannert L. Abele was hit midships breaking the ship in two sinking it almost immediatley. The USS Jeffers hit one with AAA fire and the resulting explosion although not a direct hit did cause enough damage that the Jeffers had to leave the area. In the same raid the USS Stanly was hit by one midships, but the warhead didnt detonate. Instead it traveled through the ship out the other side. Another Baka missed the Sanly and exploded in the sea beside the ship and caused some damage.

Later on different dates the USS Shea was put out of action and deemed beyond repair, the USS Gayety was severely damaged and the USS Hugh W. Hadley was hit so severly that it was deemed beyond repair.

From the number of Bakas launched and the damage that resulted I would say they were becoming fairly effective. Combined with the waves of suicide missions using propeller driven aircraft I would definatly not want to be sitting on a ship off the coast of Okinawa and wouldnt even want to think about an invasion of Japan (anyone ever read about Ketsu-Go, the planned counter offensive to an Allied invasion??)

The greatest drawback to the whole scheme however was that each time an attack was launched almost none of the Betty bombers would return. Japan could keep the supply of Bakas going but I dont think they were expecting the great loss of the Betty's. Thats why they tried to redesign the Baka for more range so more Betty's could survive.
 
I don't believe the jet-powered Bakas ever saw service. What would have been interesting (and extremely lethal) would have been if the Japanese had considered making a land-based version of the Baka (similar to the German V-1). True it would not have been able to hit the carrier groups, but it would have been devestating to those lumbering invasion ships sitting just off the beach.
 
I have to go back to the F-4U4 as best, it still held it's own in the '58/'59 for the French. I also seem to remember a skirmish in the late '60s but I can't remember for sure - maybe LG has the info as a Coursair buff.
 
wmaxt said:
I have to go back to the F-4U4 as best, it still held it's own in the '58/'59 for the French. I also seem to remember a skirmish in the late '60s but I can't remember for sure - maybe LG has the info as a Coursair buff.

The F4U-4 was the best, pretty much without competition.

BTW, it is F4U. Navy coding was very different than USAAF coding:

F4U-4 = F(Fighter) 4(4th type from this manufacturer) U(Vought) -4(version)

F6F-3 = F(fighter) 6(6th type from this manufacturer) F(Grumman) -3(version)

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Lunatic
 

Sorry, It's a habit I need to break!
 
On the side subject of jet engines: I read once about a jet biplane about 1909. It also had a gas engine running the compressor stages. The builder while testing the engine on the ground lost it and the plane got into the air, flew for a short distance when the owner (he wasn't a pilot and did not want to be) delibertly crashed it before it could attain apreciable speed or altitude.

I don't remember the source and have not found the reference so I can't confirm it - boy would that have changed history.
 

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