The "Super-Zero" That Never Made It: Mitsubishi A7M Reppu
52,328
Published 2024-05-07
We then talk about the early superiority of the Zero and how its era of dominance began to end around mid-1942. We talk about how the Japanese Military and Navy recognized this, which led to a new design contest for a replacement, which then resulted in the A7M Reppu. We look at the initial conflict in the designing of the Reppu and how that led to significant delays. We also look at the eventual completion of a prototype, its initial poor performance, how that was remedied, and how the potential "Super-Zero", with performance much better than the Zero, was thwarted by allied attacks and mother nature.
We end by talking about the inevitability of Japan's defeat in 1945 and how no new plane would have changed that.
All Comments (21)
-
The Japanese ability to self sabotage due to the navy and army's inability to cooperate should never be underestimated. đđâ€đđ
-
This is a bit off topic, but I'm reminded of a former F-4 pilot's assessment of his plane " All those cranks and angles of the wings were to over come it's defects, it was a Buss, but a FAST bus"!
-
The Zero could outmaneuver early Allied aircraft at low speed, but in a high speed dogfight it lost this edge. The stubby little Wildcat was not only tougher and better armed, it also had a higher service ceiling than the Zero. It boiled down to choosing your tactics wisely. Once these facts were realized, the jig was up.
-
Very good. All new information to me. I live flying the A6M2 in a simulator, and evidently the sim is pretty accurate, because it is a very easy plane to fly, as well as being super maneuverable. It would make a great sport plane, IMHO. You don't need armament or armor for that. Add a back seat, good to go!
-
As you explained, the first "Zero" was classified as "A6M1," with "M" standing for Mitsubishi and the last number referring to its modernization. Rather like the letters added to American and German aircraft, and the "Mark" numbers added to British planes. The name "Zero" came from its official name: "Type 0 Navy Fighter," as the Japanese military preferred to keep information about its aircraft secret by giving every Navy fighter or bomber entering service in a particular year the same name. This opaqueness is largely why the U.S. gave boy's names to Japanese fighters and girl's names to Japanese bombers. I think the last major development of the "Zero" was the A6M5. "Type 0" referred to the fact that the airplane came out in 1940. Aircraft from 1939 were called "Type 99," and so on. The idea of naming aircraft types came about later in the war, e.g., "Tenzan" (Heavenly Mountain) and "Ohka" (Cherry Blossom). So Reppu was probably known as the Type 5 Navy Fighter.
-
Thank Heavens they never got it together. Imagine that war dragging on and on.
-
"Decent power" for the F-4? A little better than "decent" I'd say. Two J-79's meant a lot of power at that time. It needed the power because the airframe was a giant brick. F-4's achieved roughly equivalent speed to an F-104 with two of the same engines. The F-4 became a very successful aircraft partly because of its enormous "horsepower" (thrust). Had Robert Strange McNamara not been Defense Secretary, the Phantom might have been eclipsed by USAF fighters with superior performance. RSM fixated on the F-4 for both the USAF and USN because it was the "cheap" way to go. This meant that the Air Force was saddled with a Naval "Missile Platform" with lots of extra weight (to survive carrier operations), no gun (because the Navy thought missiles would do the job) and two engines (because the a/c had to operate at long distances over water).
-
I know itâs a video game but itâs all we really have to go off of. Iâve flown the A7M2 a lot in war thunder and itâs actually one of my favorite planes in the game other than the zero. From my experience it suffers from a lot of the same problems as the zero plus a new one. It still canât catch up to allied planes (granted said allied planes are usually F8F bearcats, F7F tigercats and de havilland hornets) itâs also very big making it an easy target if you stall or arenât paying attention. Despite its flaws I still love the reppu, the zero and almost all Japanese props
-
Thank you for another educational and entertaining video.
-
Always educational AND entertaining content.
-
I really like your commentary throughout especially the end. Thanks for covering this sort of unknown fighter
-
Like all of your videos this is full of info. Thanks for taking the time and effort in making it.
-
Interesting in an engineering sense; but like all late war project, moot. Good job btw!
-
Great video, i like the subtle humour you put into your content
-
Could you please a video about the Nakajima G10N.
-
Alrighty then. The night is dark and full of terrors. Thanks bud!
-
The A7M2 would be have been going up against the Bearcat,P-51H,P-47N,and the Super Corsair. It would be at an extreme disadvantage
-
Ki-84 Hayate next please!! Such a great plane, under reported on.
-
A6M3 Zero's twin radial Nakajima engine was an unlicensed copy of DC-3's Pratt & Whitney 14-cylinder R-1830 Twin Wasp.
-
Thank you for another informative video. I would love to see more videos on the last years of WWII. Such as the KI--84 and the JM2 Raiden.
