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Description
| Manufacturer: | Kawanishi | |
| Base model: | N1K-2J | |
| Designation: | N1K-2J | |
| Nickname: | Shiden Kai | |
| Basic role: | Fighter (Japan) | |
| Crew: | Pilot | |
Specifications
| Length: | 30' 7" | 9.3 m | |
| Height: | 13' | 3.9 m | |
| Wingspan: | 39' 4.5" | 12.0 m | |
| Wingarea: | 252.9 sq ft | 23.5 sq m | |
| Empty Weight: | 5,858 lb | 2,656 kg | |
| Gross Weight: | 8,818 lb | 3,999 kg | |
| Max Weight: | 10,714 lb | 4,858 kg | |
Propulsion
| No. of Engines: | 1 | ||
| Powerplant: | Nakajima NK9H | ||
| Horsepower (each): | 1990 | ||
Performance
| Range: | 1,066 miles | 1,716 km | |
| Cruise Speed: | 230 mph | 370 km/h | 200 kt |
| Max Speed: | 369 mph | 594 km/h | 321 kt |
| Ceiling: | 35,500 ft | 10,820 m | |
Examples of this type may be found at
| Museum | City | State |
| Champlin Fighter Museum | Mesa | Arizona |
| National Museum of Naval Aviation | NAS Pensacola | Florida |
| United States Air Force Museum | Wright-Patterson | Ohio |
N1K-2J on display
Champlin Fighter Museum | National Museum of Naval Aviation |
Recent comments by our visitors
| Ron sylmar, CA | I like this plane except at high altitude.
It was the only Japanese fighter so well armed with 4 high velocity 20mm cannons from the start and in such quantity. The N1K Shiden's laminar flow wing helped speed, and dive to about 500 mph, while the automatic flaps gave near A6M Zero aerobatics dipite it's added weight and size, delaying stall. Stall turns could be dicey though if handled too roughly. Experienced pilots were required, posessing the right touch to avoid auto-rotation and loss of control in an inverted spin. It could not be out-turning by F6F Hellcats and F4U Corsairs if well piloted. At times, USAF fighters would have structural failure in combat with the Shiden, when it would survive with distorted surfaces and popped rivets. It was tough and armored. It's IJN Type 99-II (500) cannons were faster than the hard hitting IJA Ho-3 (400 rpm) and much heavier 128g HE shells than the 79g HE shells of the faster Army Ho-5 (850 rpm) cannons. The 20mm ammo load of the N1K2-J was 900 rounds total! Too bad it had an unreliable engine. This limited it's high altitude performance sharply. This was not in a theatre like the Russian front where it was a bonus to stay and excel low down. For awhile high altitude B-29 raids over Japan required interceptors like the Ki 44 Shoki, J2M Raiden and Ki 61/100 Hein. But most of these lacked the Shiden's battery of 4 high velocity 20mm cannons. When the B-29 raids came down to lower levels, it was at night. Japan was still vulnerable. The Shiden was feared by Allied pilots. It was also well respected by US pilots who flight-tested captured Shidens. 02/21/2016 @ 19:24 [ref: 69494] |
| Richard Chambers Amarillo, TX | Famous Japanese Ace Saburo Sakai called it a piece of crap! 01/18/2014 @ 12:54 [ref: 68303] |
| Mailman , ME | 428 of all versions (423 N1K2-J/Ja) of the N1K2-J Shiden Kai /"George 21" were produced. Eight factories were planned to mass produce this aircraft, but the aircraft (B-29) that the Shiden Kai was designed to destroy nixed those plans by destroying most of the factories. This aircraft was a formidable opponent at medium altitude for any allied aircraft when flown by an experienced combat pilot which is what I suspect was the case when a single N1K2-J shot down four Navy Hellcats and scattered 8 others. It was designed with a unique auto combat flap system using a mercury switch. It was heavier and more powerful and could dive almost as well as the allied aircraft.
The Shiden Kai had a top speed 369 MPH @ 18,370 Ft. similar to that of the F6F-5 Hellcat with a top speed of 380 MPH @ 23,400 Ft., but it had heavier fire power with its four 20 mm cannon. The "George 21" suffered at high altitude from engine and supercharger unreliability like its army stablemate the KI-84 Hayate / "Frank" which was its best at low to medium altitude. If it had the higher octane aviation fuel and maintenance capabilities that the Americans enjoyed a different history may have been written, but it didn't. This aircraft was a departure from previous Japanese designs. Although not as fast as the Hayate it was more heavily armed and armoured and not as maneuvable. Before one talks of this aircraft being a history rewriter if more were available one must keep in mind that the Americans were not sitting idle with advancing their fighter designs. The Hellcat was being replaced aboard the fast carriers by the faster, better perfoming & carrier qualified F4U-1C (4 x 20mm)& 1D Corsair which was some 40 MPH faster and the F4U-4 & 4B (4 x 20mm) which topped out at 446 MPH. These aircraft were being flown by experienced USN & USMC & Royal Navy & Marine pilots. The P-51D and the P-47M & N were faster and performed better up high where they escorted the B-29 Superfortresses. 02/16/2006 @ 10:17 [ref: 12515] |
| santosh grg , CA | shiden is one of the most reputed fighter plane developed by the japanese during the world war II. despite its weight,it outclassed the allies fighter plane in every aspects. it could roll, outdive, and climb faster than the allies plane hellcat which was the major threat to japanese air force.with its armour, it could withstand the damage from hellcats and still fight.it wouldn\'t go down so easily as zero.if this plane had been made sufficiently then the air dominacy of allies would have been over and history would have been different. 01/15/2006 @ 10:52 [ref: 12161] |
| santosh grg , CA | shiden is one of the most reputed fighter plane developed by the japanese during the world war II. despite its weight,it outclassed the allies fighter plane in every aspects. it could roll, outdive, and climb faster than the allies plane hellcat which was the major threat to japanese air force.with its armour, it could withstand the damage from hellcats and still fight.it wouldn\'t go down so easily as zero.if this plane had been made sufficiently then the air dominacy of allies would have been over and history would have been different. 01/15/2006 @ 10:51 [ref: 12160] |
| Josh Sarasota, FL | I think the Shiden is a facsinating plane.I have been a very big ww2 plane fanatic for a while and this plane is my favorite.If more of them were built i think the war would have lasted for a longer period of time and the Japenese would have won.By the way you forgot to mention that near the end of the war these planes were mainly used in the Kamikazze role..... 08/01/2001 @ 17:34 [ref: 2804] |
| Steve Lange Long Beach, CA | The Kawanishi N1K2-J was operated by an elite Naval squadron at Matsuyama in Southern Japan during the closing months of the Pacific War. A few other units operated it too, but only about 460 were built during the last few months of the war.
The N1K2-J, dubbed "George" by Allied aircraft recognition manuals, was arguably the best all-around fighter operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the war. It was a progressive development of the N1K1-J, which was itself a development of the N1K1 "Kyofu"(codename: "Rex"), a powerful and advanced floatplane fighter that had first flown in early 1942. Recognizing that the Kyofu's airframe, which included automatic manuvering flaps and a laminar-flow wing, might be developed into a potent land-based fighter, Kawanishi built a new fighter prototype as a private venture. Kawanishi's "Model X-1" fighter had a fully-retractable tailwheel undercarriage, a more powerful engine(an early Nakajima Homare 11(NK9A or NK9K) rated at 1825 hp. and no floats. It retained the N1K1's mid-wing layout(that is, the wings emerged from the fuselage midway up, not from its bottom, like most aircraft of the time). This required a complex dual retraction system for the undercarriage, which was about 13 inches longer extended than when it was retracted. The fighter was somewhat slower than had been hoped and the prototypes which followed this "X-1" used the more powerful Homare 21(NK9H). This brought the maximum speed up a bit, to 362 mph at 21,000 feet, but rather less than the 350 knots(400 mph) that had been hoped for. About 1,000 N1K1-Js were built and most models had four 20-mm cannon(one in each wing and one under each wing in a "gondola" attached to its underside) plus two 13-mm machine guns directly in front of the cockpit. Despite piecemeal deployment, an impossible tactical situation and novice fighter pilots, the N1K1-J performed rather well against Allied fighters and it was one of the few Axis types capable of posing a serious hazard to a P-51D or a Vought Corsair. It debuted in October, 1944, during the battle for the Philipines and fought until the end of the war. The dreaded Grumman Hellcat was outclassed by the George, but piloting and fighting skills of the Japanese pilots were inferior to those of most American pilots, so the N1K1-J did little or nothing to stop the Allied advance on Japan. The N1K2-J was a more refined development of the N1K1-J. A cleaner, neater oval engine cowl made the fuselage nose more aerodynamic and the wing was dropped to a conventional "low-wing" location. The fuselage guns were dropped and all four 20 mm cannon were placed inside the wing, 2 in each wing. With a low wing layout, the unreliable and intricate dual retraction system was no longer needed. The worst feature of this design, though, was the Nakajima NK9K engine, which powered both the N1K1-J and the N1K2-J. It was frightfully temperamental. In addition, when I saw one in a Ki.84 in 1966, it seemed to be a beautifully aerodynamic package, but one designed without sufficient regard for either repair or maintenance. 12/06/2000 @ 15:55 [ref: 1144] |
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