Wednesday 9 February 2011

Magnificent Lightning

Of all the aircraft which feature 'Lightning' in their names, this is probably the least well-known.  The Kyushu J7W Shinden (Magnificent Lightning) was a fairly late war experiment which as far as I know never saw action.  The model in the photos is another F-toys pre-painted kit.
Possibly one of the weirdest looking aircraft of the war!

Rear view, showing the six-bladed 'pusher' propellor.

12 comments:

Paul said...

Nasty looking thing. I doubt it would have caused the Mustang pilots much bother however!

Arquinsiel said...

I was pretty sure this was a Crimson Skies plane for a second....

Don M said...

always thought this was an interesting plane.

Tim Gow said...

Paul
Oh, I don't know - a design speed of 469mph and 4 30mm cannon could spoil someone's day!

Tim Gow said...

Arquinsiel
I had to Google 'Crimson Skies' - I see what you mean.

Tim Gow said...

Don
A true 'Whacky Racer' of the air.

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Nice

I want one

Tim Gow said...

Geordie
Irresistable isn't it?

Paul´s Bods said...

That looks great...very futuristic...painted up in another scheme it could well be used for a staempunk plane
Cheers
paul

Tim Gow said...

Paul
I suppose it could - lets face it - nobody is going to believe it whatever the colour scheme!

Chris Kemp said...

Britain did weird too - this fine plane was a rival design to the Spitfire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland-Hill_Pterodactyl and also http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2006/06/stuff_eng_hrubisko_tailless.htm way ahead of its time as the jets in the second link allude to.

Tim Gow said...

Chris Kemp
I look forward to your model Pterodactyl - I know you won't be able to resist!