[Cavtanker]

What was the Tojo's armament?

[hworth18]

Originally Posted by Cavtanker

What was the Tojo's armament?

From Wikipedia:
Ki-44 Type I
was powered by a 930 kW (1,250 hp) Nakajima Ha-41 engine, and had a maximum speed of 580 km/h (363 mph). Armament consisted of two 12.7 mm Type I machine guns and two 7.7 mm Type 89 machine guns placed in the wing.
Ki-44 Type II
had a 1,074 kW (1,440 hp) Nakajima Ha-109 engine with a top speed of 604 km/h (378 mph), and four 12.7 mm Type I machine guns.
Ki-44 IIc
(Mark 2c) first version with heavy armament - four 20 mm Ho-3 cannons or two 12.7 mm Ho-103 machine guns and two 40 mm Ho-301 cannon.

The four Ho-3 cannons were the most effective against B-29s. The 20x125 Ho-3 round gave the 144 g ave. (127/140/164) shell (7% HE ave.) a range of 900 m and a muzzle velocity of 820 m/s. The rate of fire for the wing-guns was 400 rpm, while the synchronized cowl-mounted pair were much slower (perhaps under 272 rpm each). This equals 23 rounds per second for the four cannon against approximately 52 rps for the standard four machine gun version), but the firepower advantage (around 2.5x per second stronger punch - including blast, for the same number of guns and only about half the ammo per second) more than compensated against bombers.

Against small fighters at speed, the sparse firing pattern density would be less than ideal. Double magazines could hold 100 rpg of 20 mm (20x125) ammunition - not to be confused with the rapid fire Ho-5 20 mm (20x94) ammunition - which was better for dog fights. No 20 mm cannon in World War II had a higher rate of fire than the new Ho-5, but its punch per hit was less than that of the high velocity Ho-3.
Ki-44 IIIa
(Mark 3a) engine of 2,000 hp (1,500 kW) and four 20 mm Ho-5 cannons.
Ki-44 IIIb
(Mark 3b) two 20 mm Ho-5 cannons and two 37 mm Ho-203 cannons.
Total production: 1,225

[lanslide]

Originally Posted by Cavtanker

Is a Zeke the same as a Zero? And can I see a pic of a Tojo?

"Zeke" was the allied code name for the A6M Reisen (Zero-Fighter) like "Tojo" was the allied code name for the KI-44 Shoki (Devil-Queller).

[conemaugh]

Maybe someone can assist me with my failing memory, but I recall reading about a Japenese fighter that had a pair of "upward" firing cannons located behind the cockpit. The idea was to fly beneath the B-29s without having to confront the main armament of the bomber.

[Epapazian]

Originally Posted by conemaugh

Maybe someone can assist me with my failing memory, but I recall reading about a Japenese fighter that had a pair of "upward" firing cannons located behind the cockpit. The idea was to fly beneath the B-29s without having to confront the main armament of the bomber.

Towards the end of the war the Japanese emulated the German night fighter use of upward firing canno,installing such weapons in some of their twin-engined fighters---the Nick comes immediately to mind, but there were probably others.

[hworth18]

Originally Posted by Epapazian

Towards the end of the war the Japanese emulated the German night fighter use of upward firing canno,installing such weapons in some of their twin-engined fighters---the Nick comes immediately to mind, but there were probably others.

This was also tried in the Zero with limited success but was abandoned after a few misfire accidents where groundcrew servicing the cannons were killed (IIRC)..

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by conemaugh

Maybe someone can assist me with my failing memory, but I recall reading about a Japenese fighter that had a pair of "upward" firing cannons located behind the cockpit. The idea was to fly beneath the B-29s without having to confront the main armament of the bomber.

Three that I can find are the Ki 45 Toryu , Ki. 46 III KAI Dinah and the JiN1-S Gekko.

[flyXwire]

Marushin...please, please, PLEASE do these!!!

Originally Posted by hworth18