Luftwaffe Zeros?

As the A6M2 not of much use in the Battle of Britain, is there somewhere else where the A6M2 could be of use to the Germans?
Maybe as a maritime fighter on the west coast of France to give longer range in to the atlantic?
They don't need a fragile aircraft with long legs.

If the Germans want any Japanese single engine fighter it's the Nakajima Ki-84. Ceiling of over 38,000 feet with a top speed over 420 mph, armed with 2xmg and 2xcannons. After that, it's the later Tachikawa Ki-94, pressurized cockpit - would have been one of the best B-29 killers in Japan. However, by 1944, Germany has equal or better aircraft in all categories. In fact it's the Japanese that need the likes of the Ta-152, Fw 190 D-9 and Me-262.

f559_fw190d9_japan_dev_by_ws_clave-d7aol05.jpg


It makes one wonder, is there any aircraft in the IJAAF or IJN that would be useful to the Germans vs. their own aircraft. Perhaps a long range bomber or maritime recon aircraft that can vector in u-boat strikes? Perhaps the Nakajima G5N or Tachikawa Ki-74? I'd skip the Japanese flying boats, Germany doesn't need those.
 
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I'd skip the Japanese flying boats, Germany doesn't need those.

Yet they used a bunch of them.

H8K Emilys are far better that the German flying boats.
This was an area where Japan got it right.

Japan actually had higher powered engines, they just chose not to put them in fighters.
It took a lot effort to get the High Command to stop worshiping the God of Maneuver to make something like the J2M Jack
 
Good call on the Japanese flying boats.
OTOH, Japan was lagging behind Germany/UK/USA in engine power by about a year, if not more. Part of the lag was due to Japanese engines using just 91 oct fuel. They probably had parity with the Soviets, and were certainly better than what Italians designed.
The Japanese never introduced a 2-stage supercharged engines, unlike the UK and USA, and just a token number of turbo-supercharged engines, so their engines were with greater disadvantage at higher alttudes, than it was the case with lower altitudes.
 
There was actually the Ki-61 Hein fighter of the IJAAF, using the only in line engine produced for real combat aircraft in the Empire of Japan, where all other types maintained the more traditional radial engine. The engine was a licenced Daimler-Benz DB 601, simmillar to the ones fitted on the contemporary Bf-109's As such the two types shared quite some simmilarities, though one remaining typical German and the other typical Japanese.
 
There was actually the Ki-61 Hein fighter of the IJAAF, using the only in line engine produced for real combat aircraft in the Empire of Japan, where all other types maintained the more traditional radial engine. The engine was a licenced Daimler-Benz DB 601, simmillar to the ones fitted on the contemporary Bf-109's As such the two types shared quite some simmilarities, though one remaining typical German and the other typical Japanese.
The Ki-61 is IMO the third best looking single-engined DB-powered fighter of the war. The other two are the Fiat G.55 (with notable mention to the Re.2005 and Macchi C.205V) and the Heinkel He 100. The Bf-109 just never tried to be streamlined, instead is covered in bulges and intakes.

fiat_g55_aldobidini.jpg


he100_luftwaffe_kp.jpg
 
The Ki-61 is IMO the third best looking single-engined DB-powered fighter of the war. The other two are the Fiat G.55 (with notable mention to the Re.2005 and Macchi C.205V) and the Heinkel He 100. The Bf-109 just never tried to be streamlined, instead is covered in bulges and intakes.
123_1_a2.jpg
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the G-55 has its oil cooler upstream of the coolant radiator, a no-no to the cognoscenti.
 
The Sakae 21 with a two speed blower was 1300 pounds, single speed a bit less for 940 HP from 1700 cubic inches.
Dry weight on the Merlin was 1640 lbs, almost the same as its displacement, and as per the comment above, add in glycol, plumbing and radiator weight to weight for the engine, and then the weight for the liquid cooled intercooler

Early Merlin, like the Mk.III, was at 1375 lbs; 1-speed 1-stage S/C. Later engines with same supercharging system went to 1385-1420 lbs. The two-speed, 1-stage supercharged Merlin, like eg. the Packard V-1650-1, was at 1420 lbs.
Above 1600 lbs went the 2-speed, 2-stage supercharged variants, with excellent hi-alt capabilities; those variants also needed intercoolers (adds weight, also drag if the intrecooler radiator was not smartly faired in).

1-speed supercharged Sakae 11 and 12 were at 1165 lbs, really low weight, but also lowish power, at all altitudes.
 
I wonder how the Japanese would have done with German aircraft...

FW-190 (with drop tanks) i/o A6M
Bf-109 instead of Ki-43
Ju-87 i/o D3A

Etc...
 
Ju 87C vs. D3A = much bigger bomb = a single bomb kills the Lex or Sara. As aerly as Ju 87R the two drop tanks are the option.
Bf 109 with drop tank was a rangy bird, though not as rangy as Ki-43, Zero, let alone the Ki-61. There was a room for improvement, though, with use of where was the MW-50 tank in OTL to house more fuel, plus use of two drop tanks instead of one. At least parity in performance vs. most of the Spitfires, Hellcats, P-38s etc, while trumping P-40s, Wildcats and Hurricanes. Compact and light Japanese guns would be an easy fit.
Fw 190 vs. Zero? Landing visibility as an issue? If that can be solved (how?) or it is not really the issue, a major boon for the IJN provided they have it already in early 1942. No 100 oct fuel means the BMW 801C is used, the 801s were problematic machines prior the late 1942.

Major thing would not be in performance or capability leap, but ability to save the pilots/crews.
 
Really? A lot of German tank crews lit live fires under their tanks? Every tankers' fear is fire. Gylcol doesn't freeze until -59'C. I think they're fine on that score, even if they partially dilute it with water. Now, their engine oil, that may be a bigger problem, causing glue-like mass in the engine sumps that prevent engine turn-over. But that's got nothing to do with the coolant.

But I think I'm tapping out here, we're getting to much into a pingpong match. Cheers.

That would probably be to stop the various pieces of metal sticking to each other due to the cold rather than getting the coolant thawed out.
 

CalBear

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They don't need a fragile aircraft with long legs.

If the Germans want any Japanese single engine fighter it's the Nakajima Ki-84. Ceiling of over 38,000 feet with a top speed over 420 mph, armed with 2xmg and 2xcannons. After that, it's the later Tachikawa Ki-94, pressurized cockpit - would have been one of the best B-29 killers in Japan. However, by 1944, Germany has equal or better aircraft in all categories. In fact it's the Japanese that need the likes of the Ta-152, Fw 190 D-9 and Me-262.

f559_fw190d9_japan_dev_by_ws_clave-d7aol05.jpg


It makes one wonder, is there any aircraft in the IJAAF or IJN that would be useful to the Germans vs. their own aircraft. Perhaps a long range bomber or maritime recon aircraft that can vector in u-boat strikes? Perhaps the Nakajima G5N or Tachikawa Ki-74? I'd skip the Japanese flying boats, Germany doesn't need those.
Actually the most useful aircraft the Japanese produced for the ETO was the H8K. Ungodly range (4,400 miles, although a a very leisurely pace), 4,000 pound bomb load, good defensive firepower, and, unusually for the Japanese, fairly rugged.

It would have been a massive improvement over the Condor, better than double the range and bomb load over any practical range, and, surprisingly, actually capable of a higher top speed (290 mph vs. 224) and much greater operational ceiling (28K vs 19K). Churchill called the Condor the scourge of the Atlantic, the H8K would have redefined the term.

If you think about it, the Emily was actually the heavy bomber the Luftwaffe always needed.

Even the H6K, despite its relative fragility, would have beaten the Fw200 all hollow as a commerce raider.
 
Very true. The B-29s were cruising at 230-250 mph, and late war Japanese fghters were able to match that turn of speed and then some. We can recall that, during the BoB, radar was as important as Hurricane or Spitfire, and probably more important.
Problem with that is the USAF will start to do night bombing earlier than in OTL, and Japanese don't have means to stop that kind of air war.
 
Several shortcomings:
- license needed for the R-1830 (hopefully a new model, not like the Italians got)
- higher fuel consumption than V12 Powered Bf-109
- no drop tank facility (can be refitted, but so can be done on the usual Bf 109)
 
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