Looking for books on the Kawanishi N1K Kyofu the floatplane

[msxyz]

...with drawings, lot of technical info and pictures, please

Books about the later N1K1/2 seems to be rather abundant, not so about the early floatplane.

While we're at this, anybody knows why this plane wasn't employed as a point defense fighter for cruisers, destroyers and all those ships which were able to launch floatplanes? Japanese lost a lot of warships to small groups of bombers that swarmed the ocean from 1943 onward. Without a fighter escort, they could have been an easy prey even for the N1K (better armed, more maneuverable) had it been available onboard instead of those pathetic spotter planes that were usually employed on these ships.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Have you tried the Koku-Fan line of books/magazines?

 

[msxyz]

There is one of the line that covers all 3 versions. Me, I prefer the Maru Mechanic approach to 'dissecting' planes; unfortunately they have one issue dedicated to the Rex and George but not the Kyofu.

 

[Shinpachi]

Isn't Kyofu a float plane version of Rex (N1K1)?

Source: Famous Airplanes of the World Vol.53

 

[msxyz]

Nice scans, Shinpachi

There is one detail that always caught my imagination. When they switched from the contra rotating propellers (why did they abandon this solution? Weight? Complexity? Vibrations?) they kept the oversize propeller hub and also the ring where the innermost propeller went, giving the front of the plane an unique and distinctive look.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Actually I just remembered that the Nimitz museum in Texas Actually has one of these, "believe it of not". - said in my best Jack Palance voice

 

[Shinpachi]

Nice scans, Shinpachi

There is one detail that always caught my imagination. When they switched from the contra rotating propellers (why did they abandon this solution? Weight? Complexity? Vibrations?) they kept the oversize propeller hub and also the ring where the innermost propeller went, giving the front of the plane an unique and distinctive look.

According to the testimony by Kawanishi's test pilot Wasuke Otokuni, the contra rotating propellers was very good with no propeller torque but one big issue that Kawanishi failed to solve was oil leak form the gear box as the oil mist hazed over the wind-shield. Another issue was heavy control of the aileron as a float plane. These had delayed the development of Kyofu.

 

[msxyz]

Actually I just remembered that the Nimitz museum in Texas Actually has one of these, "believe it of not". - said in my best Jack Palance voice

Indeed, four of these were transported to the US after the war; the whereabouts of three of them are known. (Two are in museums as exhibition, one either scrapped or turned into souvenirs and the last one rusts in pieces in that huge black hole that is the Garber facility)

According to the testimony by Kawanishi's test pilot Wasuke Otokuni, the contra rotating propellers was very good with no propeller torque but one big issue that Kawanishi failed to solve was oil leak form the gear box as the oil mist hazed over the wind-shield. Another issue was heavy control of the aileron as a float plane. These had delayed the development of Kyofu.

Interesting bit of info. So the engineers at Kawanishi dropped the contra rotating propellers because they couldn't design a proper O-ring for the hub? They should have asked their Italian allies how to design one

At any rate, the large nose is indeed a testimony that the design was rushed to production. Normally by deleting the second propeller and the associated gearings, the engine should have been moved forward by a few centimetres to restore the center of gravity to maintain longitudinal stability. In turn, the cowl should have been made a bit longer. (hint: look at the proportions of the N1K1/2) Instead they opted simply to leave everything as it was with that big hub sticking out of a comparatively short cowl.

 

[Shinpachi]

Hindsight is just a fantasy for a kid.

 

[msxyz]

Hindsight is just a fantasy for a kid.

I agree, sometimes it's easy to say 'Those people overlooked the X solution for no reason' just because we're allowed to speculate from the comfort of our homes, while technology most often than not, it's all about compromise: time, money, resources are all things that has to be weighted.

 

[Shinpachi]

You will design an idealistic aircraft for you in the future, msxyz.
Probably you are a more designer than historian.

 

[msxyz]

You will design an idealistic aircraft for you in the future, msxyz.
Probably you are a more designer than historian.

Maybe in 1:48 scale

 

[msxyz]

I'm a curious man, so I also want to discover the reason behind certain things. History cannot be changed, but you can always learn new lessons from it.