J7W1

J7W1

J7W1

Description

The J7W1 Shinden is a rank Japanese fighter with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.43.

The J7W1 Shinden is a bomber interceptor designed to make quick work of raiding bomber aircraft. It has exceptional performance at altitude, more than exceptional armament and a decent climb rate. The J7W1 is however, not particularly fast except at very high altitudes, and thus in most relevant situations in War Thunder, is a subpar brick of a plane at best which climbs okay-ish and handles amazingly in dives, but that's literally it. It cannot run from anything, nor can it hide, nor can it hope to turn against anything that is not a bomber.

General info

Flight performance

The J7W1 Shinden has a maximum speed of 892 km/h (558 mph/485 kt) IAS (this is Vne speed - the absolute maximum speed). In a dive from service ceiling, a speed of mach 0.9 has been recorded and is sustained until IAS speed limit is reached. The aircraft can handle a max load of 11G and compresses rudder, pitch and roll at extremely high IAS speed in order of descending effect.

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 8,500 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	723	703		31.5	32.2	15.3	15.3	650
Upgraded	779	750		28.6	30.0	23.0	18.6

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
		498	469	320	~8	~6

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 563	< 560	< 560	> 314

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
8,400 m	1,660 hp	1,942 hp

Survivability and armour

• 70 mm Bulletproof glass - Armoured windscreen
• 16 mm Steel plate in the nose, in front of ammo boxes and pilot

The J7W1 is protected by armour glass (70 mm) in front of pilot and steel armour plate (16 mm) in front of pilot in between guns. It is very prone to fires, and which are difficult to extinguish. Engine snipes are common, due to the position of the engine. Wing tip damage can increase the likelyhood of unrecoverable flat spins.

Armaments

Offensive armament

The J7W1 is armed with:

• 4 x 30 mm Type 5 navy cannons, nose-mounted (60 rpg = 240 total)

Muzzle velocities

• Shells: HEF-T, PT, P: 910 m/s
• Shells: HEF-I, HEF: 720 m/s
• Tracer: 910 m/s
• All other belts: Mixed shell velocities, see above.

Suspended armament

The J7W1 can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

• Without load
• 2 x 60 kg Navy Type 97 Number 6 bombs (120 kg total)
• 4 x 60 kg Navy Type 97 Number 6 bombs (240 kg total)

Usage in battles

The Shinden is a high-altitude specialist with (sadly) not much role in War Thunder's current state. There are no objectives in any game mode up at the high altitudes where the thing shines, while its high BR of 6.0 means that it doesn't often face the 4-engine bombers it was designed to counter, but instead literal swarms of Ju-288Cs, which are nearly as fast as or faster in most normal combat altitudes than you and have more reliable defensive firepower than your offensive firepower. It does not climb that spectacularly, particularly because the engine only has one supercharger gear setting for high altitude. It dives amazingly when it is able to get the drop on an opponent - unlike literally every other Japanese fighter, it does not compress very much at higher speeds. But, it turns like a bus and thus can only strictly do "Boom & Zoom" type attacks, then running like hell and hoping the foe can't catch you if you missed your shots. The roll and rudder are responsive at high speeds, enabling you to line up your shots very well, though. The guns are devastating when they do work, obliterating single-engine fighters, but sadly they spark without seeming to do much damage more often than not, especially versus the bombers it is meant to kill. This plane only might have some degree of use in Combined Ground Battles solely as an anti-CAS plane, due to the lack of red markers enabling it to surprise people more often with its insane dive speeds.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Controllable Auto control available	Not controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Auto control available	Combined	Not controllable 1 gear	Not controllable

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Pilot has some protection in the back from the engine.
• Competitive high speed turn rate
• Good roll rate
• Amazing pitch response
• 4 x 30 mm cannons make for some great offensive firepower, but they have sparking issues.
• Great high speed and handling and dive.
• Since the engine and propeller are located in the rear, it is not likely to take damage or catch fire from shots landing at its front.

Cons:

• Slow sustained turn rate.
• High speed rudder suffers some compression, though less than many other Japanese aircraft at the tier
• Pilot more exposed at the front.
• Since the engine is located in the rear, it is especially vulnerable to enemies behind it.
• Shots to the front may damage its "tail" flaps.
• Fuel tanks are easily flammable and do not self seal fully.

History

The J7W1 Shinden (震電, "Magnificent Lightning") was an Imperial Japanese fighter of WWII that was built near the end of the war in an attempted response to the American B-29 Superfortress bombers. The aircraft used a canard wing formation, (canard wing formation refers to how the main wings are mounted at the rear of the fuselage and smaller wings are placed at the front. Similar to the Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender.) Like the Ascender, the J7W1 was never put into mass-production and was abandoned while still in the prototype stage.

Developed with the intention of intercepting heavy bombers, it was given 4 nose-mounted 30 mm cannons.

Development of the aircraft began in 1944, but shortages of manufacturing supplies continued to delay its development and testing and the first prototype wasn't completed until April 1945. The Navy placed high hopes in the new model and it was originally hoped that the Kyushu's Zasshonokuma factory and Nakajima's Handa plant would be able to produce over a thousand of the aircraft by 1947.

The prototype first flew on 3 August 1945 from Itazuke Air Base. The plane flew a total of three times, each time as a test flight before it was grounded permanently due to the Japanese surrender and end of the war.

Various parts of the Shinden survived the end of the war and its fuselage can be seen at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the J7W1 from live.warthunder.com.

Market

Camo "J7W1 'The Shark'"

Market

Camo "J7W1 '418' in training livery"

Videos

Most unusual aircraft discusses the J7W1 at 4:25 - War Thunder Official Channel

(Arcade): J7W1 Shinden - Magnificent Lightning - tx141TX

War Thunder Sub's Choice Ep 39: J7W1 - Jengar

The Shooting Range #60 - Pages of History section at 07:06 discusses the J7W1.

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• XP-55
• J21 (Family)

External links

• [Profile] J7W1 Shinden - The magnificent lightning
• [Forum] Aircraft Datasheet
• [Wikipedia] Kyushu J7W

References

Kyūshū Aircraft Co. Ltd. (九州飛行機株式会社)
Fighters	J7W1
	Previously known as Watanabe Iron Works Co. Ltd. (渡辺鉄工株式会社) prior to 1943 before being split into Kyūshū Aircraft & Kyūshū Weapons.