The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
|
| Previous: A6M "Zero", Japanese Carrier Fighter | Table of Contents | Next: AB-Tei Class, Japanese River Gunboats |
U.S. Navy photograph. From Francillon (1979) |
U.S. Army. Via ibiblio.org |
Nakajima A6M2-N "Rufe"
| Crew | 1 |
|
Dimensions |
39’4” by 33’2”
by
14’1” 12.00m by 10.10m by 4.30m |
|
Weight |
3968-5423 lbs 1912-2460 kg |
| Wing area | 242
square feet 22.5 square meters |
|
Maximum speed |
273 mph at 16,000 feet 435 km/h at 5000 meters |
|
Cruising speed |
140 mph 225 km/h |
|
Climb rate |
41 feet per second 12.5 m/s |
|
Service ceiling |
32,800 feet 10,000 meters |
| One 950hp (708 kW) Nakajima NK1C Sakae 12 fourteen-cylinder air-cooled radial engine driving a three-blade metal propeller. | |
|
Armament |
2 20mm
Type 99 cannon (wings) 2 7.7mm Type 97 (cowling) |
|
External stores |
2 60kg (132 lb) bombs. |
|
Range |
713 miles (1148 km) with normal tanks 1108 miles (1784 km) with float tank |
| 327 produced by Nakajima Hikoki at Koizumu between 12/41 and 9/43 |
"Rufe" was the seaplane version
of the famous Zero.
Unhappily for its pilots,
the large float
and wing pontoons degraded performance about 20%, enough that the
"Rufe"
was not
a match for even the first generation of Allied
fighters, such as the P-40
and the Wildcat.
This
exploded the Japanese prewar theory that float fighters would be
of great
value for holding the many primitive small islands and atolls of the
Pacific,
where land bases were not yet
available.
The design originated with a specification in the
autumn of 1940 for a high-performance single-seat fighter seaplane for
use in amphibious assaults
and on islands too small for airfields. Nakajima began work on the N1K1 but it was clear this would
not be ready soon. The Navy therefore instructed Nakajima to base its
design on the Mitsubishi Zero as a stopgap. Work began in February 1941
and a prototype was ready by 7 December 1941. Production began shortly
afterwards.
The new seaplane fighter was first deployed to Tulagi, where it suffered badly from B-17 raids. "Rufe" also
saw service in the Aleutians, where it took a significant toll of American patrol aircraft,
and in the desperate final air defense of Honshu.
"Rufe" was not as ludicrous a concept as it might seem. After all, the Spitfire was derived from a seaplane design that actually held the world air speed record for a time. However, the lighter construction of the Zero, which compensated for the relative inefficiency of the Nakajima Sakae engine compared to the Rolls-Royce Merlin, worked against the seaplane concept.
 | 
|
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007, 2009, 2014 by Kent G. Budge. Index
