Fighters of the Dying Sun

The Most Advanced Japanese Fighters of The Second World War

by

Justo Miranda

 Every country in World War II had some interesting and cringe worthy attempts at making an aviation marvel during the war. Tons of books have been written about the German aircraft that were envisioned at sometime during the war. This book takes a look at the Japanese aircraft plans to help turn the tide in the airwar. Even though the planes are engineering marvels, (some of them at least), Japan had almost no manufacturing left by 1944, and had long since run out of trained pilots. So, we can admire these plans while still knowing their chance of flight was almost nil.

 

 This is a book of line drawings of tremendous amounts of planes that were put on the drawing board during the war. Some of these planes actually made it from blueprint to being manufactured. Some had a few built as test beds, but most did not make the cut.

 One thing that the Japanese planes had that is a stumbling block to historians is their nomenclature. The Army and Navy had their own planes, and their own process for 'naming' planes. The US was so stymied by the Japanese process that they used a simple plan to refer to the Japanese planes. The US gave fighters men's names, and the bombers women's names. So, a KI-84, in its most simple form, became a 'Frank' to US pilots. 

 As was mentioned, some of the planes in the book like the 'Zero', which was never used by the US forces which used 'Zeke', were used throughout the entire war. So, the reader gets a consolidated history of many of the known Japanese planes along with the planned ones. The Japanese were able to come up with some designs by 1944 to match the new US planes, such as the 'George' and 'Tony' etc. What they did not have was trained pilots or aviation fuel for them to use. That is why you will see numerous speeds listed for Japanese planes. The Frank probably only made 399 mph or less on the crude Japanese fuel. When tested in the US with high octane aviation fuel it could make 427 mph.

 This is an excellent book to have for the reader interested in the Pacific War, but also for the aviation buff. The book has some information on the different weapons systems that serve employed by the Japanese. Thank you, Casemate Publishers for allowing me to review this book.

Robert

Book: Fighters of the Dying Sun: The Most Advanced Japanese Fighters of The Second World War

Author: Justo Miranda

Publisher: Fonthill Media

Distributor: Casemate Publishers

The Ultimate Piston Fighters of The Luftwaffe

by

Justo Miranda

 The Ultimate Piston Fighters of The Luftwaffe is not the book I thought it would be. I thought it was going to be a book about the possible 1946 air war, and all of the (some outlandish) propeller planes that Germany might have flown. Instead, it is an encyclopedia of all the different propeller fighters that were on the drawing board for pretty much the entire war. 

 The introduction discusses the effects of  'compressibility buffering' and how advanced the Germans were in understanding it. Then it goes on to list all of their major aeronautic testing sites, especially the wind tunnels that were state of the art, for the time. It also examines the effect that the blockade had on German industry, and their attempts to come up with ersatz solutions for the missing pieces, such as high octane fuel, oil, and rubber. One of the things the Germans could do nothing about was the lack of metals like chromium and molybdenum that were used in hardening steel. Without these, their jet engines would always be prone to breakdowns, meltdowns, and have a generally short life. The Jumo 004 jet engines sometimes had a span of only thirty hours between overhauls.

 The German airplane industry worked hard to develop the best piston engine fighters they possibly could. The book is not a compendium of crackpot last minute war winning schemes. It is a treasure trove of actual designs for the continued development of in use aircraft (BF 109, FW 190 etc.), and some advanced aircraft and weapons that we were lucky to not have to face. 

 The book has more than a few plans for for dual contra-rotating  propeller planes. This then segues into the development of the ejector seat, these being needed to escape instant and horrible pilot death by the pusher props.

 The book continues with plans for large caliber weapons, and then goes on to show the many rocket projectile plans. There are also some plans based on the 'Schrage Musik' weapons. These were weapons that were pointed at an angle coming out of the top of the airplane, to allow night fighters to fire into the bombers' bellies from below. There are also some designs that were based on the photo sensitive rocket/shells that were actually used on some ME 163s. The shadow of the bomber going over the aircraft would set them off. At least one Allied bomber was lost to this weapon.

  Each plane and weapon is accompanied by scale drawings of them. The planes have listed their weapons, speed, and ceiling based upon wind tunnel experiments, etc. The descriptions are filled with the aircrafts' uses, and what specifications from the Luftwaffe they were meant to fill. 

 The book is the ultimate for German prop plane junkies. Hopefully Mr. Miranda is working on more books about the other Axis and Allied countries' designs.

Robert 


Book: The Ultimate Piston Fighters of The Luftwaffe
Author: Justo Miranda
Publisher: Fonthill Media
Distributor: Casemate Publishers