Mitsubishi A5M, part five

The Mitsubishi A5M4 was the final development of the regular A5M which included many new and improved features like redesigned wings, external additional detachable fuel tank, a new engine and overall improvements.
It was manufactured from 1939 until 1942 (though the last ones, as it was already obsolete, were completed in the trainer variant) and almost 600 exemplars were made. Most of them were built at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, in Nagoya, Japan, but production was undertaken also by the 21st Naval Aviation Workshop (161 exemplars), in Omura and Watanabe Iron Works (just 39 exemplars), in Fukuoka, all of them located in Japan.
It was powered by the Nakajima Kotobuki 41 (AKA 41 KAI) nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine which delivered a power of 700hp for take-off and 774hp at 9840ft high (3000m). It was equipped with an interal fuel tanks with 330L (72.6 UK gallons) of fuel and could carry an additional 160L (35.2 UK gallons) in an external fuel tank.
It was armed with two 7,7mm (0.303in) Type 89 machine guns placed in the upper fuselage decking with 500 rounds each and Type 89s were replaced by the 7,7mm Type 97 machine guns in later models. It could carry two small bombs of 30kg each (66lb) and had an endurance of 4 hours.
The A5M4-K was a two-seater trainer variant that was produced by the 21st Naval Aviation Workshop, in Omura, from 1942 until 1944. One-hundred and three exemplars were manufactured and it wasn't armed.
Japan wasn't the only user of the A5M as some fighters were captured by the Chinese Nationalist during either the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War 2 or the closing stages of the Chinese Civil War. Most of them were repainted in Chinese colours and were used as advanced trainers as it was obvious that the type was already obsolete for the World War 2.
The Soviets also captured some of them during the Battle of Khalkin-Gol (AKA Nomohan Incident) in the spring of 1939 and they were evaluated by the Soviet Air Force.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_A5M
2. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/8547
3. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/28834
4. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

MItsubishi A5M, part four

The Mitsubishi A5M was also used during the early stages of the Japanese entry into World War 2. In fact, the Flying Tigers encountered unoficially the Type 96 (Mitsubishi A5M4) at Mingaladon airfield in Burma on 29th January 1942.
As obsolete as it could be in December 1941, the A5M was still in service. Some American Intelligence sources believed that the A5M still served as the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service's main fighter when it had been replaced by the A6M Zero on the first-line aircraft carriers and with the Tainan Kökütai (Taiwan Air Group). Other Japanese carriers and Kökütais continued to use the A5M until the A6M was produced in enough quantities.
On 1st February 1942 the American carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) launched air-strikes at Japanese naval and air-bases on Roi and Kwajalein Atolls in the Gilbert islands. During those actions, three Douglas SBD dive bombers were shot down by Mitsubishi A5M, including the aircraft of Lt.-Cdr. Halstead Hopping, CO of VS-6 Squadron. The last combat action of the A5M took place at the Battle of the Coral Sea on 7th May 1942 when two A5M together with four A6M Zeroes, belonging to the Japanese carrier Shöhö, clashed against American airplanes that had shot down their carrier.
During the closing months of the war, some A5M airframes were used for kamikaze attacks.
There were various variants of the A5M like the A5M3, which was a single regular A5M2 powered by an Hispano-Suiza 12Xcrs twelve-cylinder Vee liquid-cooled engine which delivered 602hp of power for take-off and 681hp at 12.795ft high (4.500m). It was armed with just one 20mm Hispano-Suiza HS-404 cannon mounted in the engine and firing through the propeller hub. However there were plans to install more machine guns in the wings, but, as both Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army favoured radial engines against inline ones, the model was discarded and only one prototype was built in 1938.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_A5M
2. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/28833
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Mitsubishi A5M, part three

The most competitive adversary that the A5M faced was the Soviet Polikarpov I-16 which was a fast and heavily armed fighter that was flown both by Chinese Nationalist pilots and Soviet volunteers. The aerial battles that took place on 18th February and 29th April 1938 were the largest ones ever seen up to that time.
The battle of 29th April confronted 31 Polikarpov I-16s and 36 Polikarpov I-15bis (making it a total of 67 of them) versus 18 Mitsubishi G3M escorted by 27 A5Ms. Victory was claimed by each side, as the Sino-Soviet side claimed 11 fighters and 10 bombers (making it a total of 21) with a total of 50 airmen killed and two captured at a cost of 12 aircraft lost and 5 pilots killed. On the other hand, the Japanese claimed they only lost two G3Ms and other two A5Ms with more than 40 Chinese aircrafts shot down.
The Mitsubishi A5M2b was a version with an enclosed NACA cowling. It was manufactured from October 1937 until 1938 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, in Nagoya, Japan with 108 of them made and the 21st Naval Aviation Workshop manufactured 16 of them in 1939. A total of 124 of them were manufactured. It was powered by a single Nakajima Kotobuki 3, nine-cylinder air-cooled single-row radial which delivered a power of 631hp for take-off and 705hp at 9186ft high (2800m).
It was armed with two 0.303in (7,7mm) Type 89 machine guns placed at the nose and could carry a small bomb payload of 60kg (132lb).
This variant was barely used as the next main variant, the A5M4, was already pushing for being Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service's main fighter.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_A5M
2. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/28830
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Mitsubishi A5M, part two

Note: This post is a direct follow-up of the previous one.
The main antagonist of the Mitsubishi A5M during the Second Sino-Japanese War, was the Curtiss Hawk III that was in service with the Chinese Nationalist Air Force, but the A5M was better in almost every aspect, in spite of its weak armament.
The A5M proved to be quite effective and damage-tolerant with an excellent maneouvrability a sturdy construction and provided an excellent escort for the Mitsubishi G3M bombers, which composed the backbone of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service's bomber force.
The Mitsubishi A5M2a was an improved variant that was produced by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagoya from June-December 1937. Only a total of 36 of them were manufactured and they were powered by a single Mitsubishi Kotobuki KAI 3b radial engine which delivered a power of 602hp for take-off and 681hp at 3250m high (10663ft) and drove a three-bladed propeller. It was armed with two forward-firing 7,7mm (0.303in) Type 89 machine guns placed in the nose with 500 rounds each. It could also carry a small bomb load as it had a total payload of 60Kg (132lb).
It operated together with the enclosed-cockpit variant A5M2b (which will be covered in a future post) and was gradually replaced by the much better variant and, by mid-1939, there wasn't any A5M2 in active service with the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_A5M
2. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/28829
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Mitsubishi A5M, part one

Note: This is our last post of the year as tomorrow we start out Christmas holidays.
Back in 1934 the Imperial Japanese Navy issued a specification for an advanced fighter with a maximum speed of 350km/h (220mph) at 3000m (9840ft) high and had to be able to climb to 5000m (16400ft) in 6 and half minutes. This specification was called 9-shi and both Nakajima and Mitsubishi submitted designs.
Mitsubishi assigned the task of designing their new fighter to a team lead by Jiro Horikoshi (who designed the unsuccessful Mitsubishi 1MF10 and would also design the successful A6M Zero). The resulting design was called the Mitsubishi Ka-14 which served as the prototype for the A5M.
As the A5M won the contract, an initial production order for 75 aircraft was placed under the designation of Mitsubishi A5M1. It entered service with the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in 1937 and soon was involved in the aerial battles of the Second Sino-Japanese War including the ones versus the Chinese Boeing P-26C, in the world first aerial dogfight between metallic monoplanes.
The A5M1 was the first production model which was produced from 1936 (when the prototype flew for the first time) until June 1937. Seventy-five exemplars were manufactured all of them by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagoya, Japan. It was designed to operate from carriers and was powered by a single Nakajima Kotobuki 2 KAI 1 nine-cylinder air-cooled single-row radial which delivered a power of 572hp for taking off and 621hp at 1500m (4920ft) high. That engine drove a two-bladed metallic propeller.
It was armed with two fixed synchronized forward-firing 7,7mm (0,303in) Type 89 machine guns placed in the nose with 500 rounds.
The A5M1 was quickly replaced by the improved version A5M2 and, by 1938, there wasn't any active A5M1 serving with the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and it received the Allied reporting name of "Claude".

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_A5M
2. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/28828
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters