Japanese jet transports and bombers in 1940s?

Norse

ACCESS: Confidential
Joined
10 February 2024
Messages
105
Reaction score
47
Was there ever a Japanese jet transport or bomber designs conceptually in world war II?
 
As far as I am aware there were no dedicated jet bombers (albeit a few fighter bombers such as the Nakajima Kikka) developed or designed by the Japanese during WWII, but there was the Kawanishi K 200 and Kawanishi KX-03 transports that were fully or partially powered by jet engines. Neither got built.
 

Attachments

  • Kawanishi_K-200.jpg
    Kawanishi_K-200.jpg
    51.2 KB · Views: 30
  • Kawanishi KX-03.jpg
    Kawanishi KX-03.jpg
    648.4 KB · Views: 30
There was a medium bomber powered by Jets Yokosuka Tenga and Yokosuka R2Y and I assume there are others maybe we'll just make a list of the Japanese jet aircraft I assume because there's not a lot can we list some? Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • tenga-art (1).jpg
    tenga-art (1).jpg
    90.9 KB · Views: 30
There was a medium bomber powered by Jets Yokosuka Tenga and Yokosuka R2Y and I assume there are others maybe we'll just make a list of the Japanese jet aircraft I assume because there's not a lot can we list some? Thanks!
I was not aware of this one, seems like they slapped two jet engines upon the airframe of a prop-powered bomber.

----------------
Japanese jet powered bomber/transports list:
----------------
Fighter Bombers:

Nakajima Kikka - (1x 500kg bomb or 1x 800kg bomb)
Nakajima Ki-201 - (1x 500kg bomb or 1x 800kg bomb)

R2Y2 Keiun Kai - (1x 800kg bomb)
R2Y2 Variant II - (1x 800kg bomb)
R2Y2 Variant III - (1x 800kg bomb)

Bombers:
Yokosuka Tenga - (1,600kg of bombs or 1x 800kg torpedo)

Transports:
Kawanishi K 200
Kawanishi KX-03 (both turboprop and jet propulsion)

----------------

Any that I missed?
 
Yokosuka MXY-7 Okha Model 22 (Ishikawajima Tsu-11 motorjet)
Yokosuka MXY-7 Okha Model 33 (Ishikawajima Ne-20)
 
Apart from the Kikka/Kikka Kai (a special attack plane, although it could be used conventionally), the only official projects for "jet bombers" by Japan in WWII were the Tenga (which was quickly abandoned) and the R2Y2.
The Tenga was a Ginga-based jet-powered fighter-bomber with twin TR30/Ne-30 turbojets and presumably some kind of fixed forward armament in addition to bombs.
The R2Y2/Keiun Kai was an attack plane consisting of a jet-powered Keiun with Ne-330 turbojets installed under the wings and some kind of bomb or possibly torpedo payload.
Neither plane was manufactured of course.

KX3 was a design study that was not a real project with any kind of schedule of development.
K200 is in my opinion a dubious project that I have only seen referenced in a semi-fictional Japanese book on what-if aircraft. I don't think it was real.

I believe that the heaviest Japanese flying boat that was put to design was the K60 flying boat which was to weigh up to 120t. There was a proposal to power this design with GTPR turboprops but it was nothing but.

The models of jet engines that were developed by Japan in WWII did not lend themselves well to any kind of long-range aircraft.
 
Last edited:
Apart from the Kikka/Kikka Kai (a special attack plane, although it could be used conventionally), the only official projects for "jet bombers" by Japan in WWII were the Tenga (which was quickly abandoned) and the R2Y2.
The Tenga was a Ginga-based jet-powered fighter-bomber with twin TR30/Ne-30 turbojets and presumably some kind of fixed forward armament in addition to bombs.
The R2Y2/Keiun Kai was an attack plane consisting of a jet-powered Keiun with Ne-330 turbojets installed under the wings and some kind of bomb or possibly torpedo payload.
Neither plane was manufactured of course.

KX3 was a design study that was not a real project with any kind of schedule of development.
K200 is in my opinion a dubious project that I have only seen referenced in a semi-fictional Japanese book on what-if aircraft. I don't think it was real.

I believe that the heaviest Japanese flying boat that was put to design was the K60 flying boat which was to weigh up to 120t. There was a proposal to power this design with GTPR turboprops but it was nothing but.

The models of jet engines that were developed by Japan in WWII did not lend themselves well to any kind of long-range aircraft.
Do you happen to have the K 60 blueprint, diagrams or drawings by any chance?
 
Do you happen to have the K 60 blueprint, diagrams or drawings by any chance?

I have a drawing of K60 showing the proposed installation of GTPR turboprops. However I do not immediately have this handy, I may post it later.

Also, I was mistaken about the K200. It was a real project, or at least idea, and I had not done my research, so I edited my comment. K200 was a 200t jet-powered flying boat proposal but was cancelled in the conceptual stage (development did not begin). It is described in Minoru Akimoto's book 巨人機物語 (Story of Giant Planes).

Tokiyasu Tanegashima, who developed the turboprop GTPR, writes that he ordered its construction for a flying boat of "some 300 tons" that was being considered by Kawanishi. The time of this order seems to have been October 1943.
K200 seems to have been proposed in the wake of the cancellation of the intercontinental bomber "TB", so it must have been proposed in 1944, which is too late to be this flying boat of 300t.
In general, the Navy had instructed Kawanishi to study flying boats of 100t~500t class from April 1943 (which the KX3 concept is a result of), so it was probably something related to this.
 
Last edited:
I'm also interested in some pictures of this aircraft please thanks.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom