A Revolutionary Carrier Fighter | Mitsubishi A5M "Claude" [Aircraft Overview #41]
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- Опубліковано 31 бер 2022
- Today we're looking at the A5M, the aircraft that modernised the air force of the Imperial Japanese Navy and paved the way for the A6M Zero. It saw extensive combat in the second Sino-Japanese war, and it provided Japan with a new generation of experienced pilots and instructors.
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Producing these videos is a hobby of mine. I have a passion for history, and personally own a large collection of books, journals and other texts, and endeavor to do as much research as possible. However if there are any mistakes, please don't hesitate to reach out and correct anything :)
Sources:
Mikesh.R.C. & Abe.S (1990) Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941
Januszewski.T. (2003) Mitsubishi A5M (Claude), Carrier Borne Fighter.
Francillon.R.J. (1970) Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War - Наука та технологія
![Nakajima Ki-27 | The Nimble "Nate" [Aircraft Overview #14]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gBoIWbVDnk0/mqdefault.jpg)
F.A.Q Section
Q: Do you take aircraft requests?
A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:)
Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others?
A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both.
Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos?
A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :)
Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators?
A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.
Feel free to leave you questions below - I may not be able to answer all of them, but I will keep my eyes open :)
Here's an interesting aircraft that was Poland's most capable fighter aircraft that was available, the PZL P.11.
I'd be interested in seeing one of your videos about either the Mig-3 or the Yak-3. Opposite ends of the performance spectrum of Soviet fighters during that period. It would be especially interesting as the Normandie-Nien group chose the Yak-3 as their aircraft out of all available allied fighters (to the best of my memory anyway).
Could you do a video discussing the Kyushu J7W Shinden? I think it's a really unique pusher prop fighter and I'd be interested to see what information you could dig up about it's performance and how It could have stacked up to other late war planes being such an unconventional design
I’m curious about the nature of China’s warlord Air Force. The nationalists had their own air force for the fighting over Shanghai and then help from the soviets in Nanjing. Is that correct? Did some of the subordinate warlords to the KMT have air forces of their own? Did warlords ever smuggle planes into China? Do the soviets or Americans provide more air support after 1941?
Can you use imperial statistics quickly after the metric ones? KPH then MPH etc.. I know 80 is 50 and multiplies, but my head calculator is slow these days. 🙂
Seeing these late 30's aircraft really shows how fast the state of the art advanced. You go from the A5M, the most advanced carrier fighter in the world in 1937, and a decade later the F9F Panther is flying.
It was all seat of the pants designing, no computer modelling about, of course.
And then they turned all civilian aircraft into pickles. Funniest shit I've ever seen
@@huwzebediahthomas9193 Lots of computations with slide rules and wind tunnel testing, not so much "seat of the pants" reckoning. Good engineering has always required computational data.
@@Kingwoodish Jup. If the maths check out it is likely going to work. If it doesn't you may have applied the maths wrong or you just discovered a new phenomenon.
@@Snake-ms7sj It's very much easier to copy than it is to invent. That goes for anyone.
Side note: Heinkel's engineering representative in Japan was a young Austrian Jewish designer named Fred David. He was involved in the designs of the Mitsubishi A5M and Aichi D3A Val before arriving in Australia as a refugee in 1939. While still officially regarded as an Enemy Alien he was recruited to design the CAC Boomerang fighter. It would be interesting to know whether he ever met his fellow designer Erich Schatzki (Fokker, Koolhoven, Republic, Lufthansa test pilot), born in the same year (1898), and both refugees from Nazism.
Another example of the stupidity of Nazism: lose some of your brightest & best because of ridiculous beliefs.
@@TheCatBilbo Also an illustration of the odd cross over of public and private behaviour in Germany at that time. Ernst Heinkel, a keen Nazi, appointed David to the job in Japan when Nazi laws were excluding jews from professional jobs in Germany. When Holland was occupied in 1940, Schatzki's former colleague and boss from Junkers and Lufthansa, Carl August von Gablenz, visited him to warn about Nazi plans to round up jews. Carl August von Gablenz wasn't a Nazi but was mainstream Prussian military background, former cavalryman, aviator in WW1 and WW2, Highly decorated, Director of Lufthansa, Luftwaffe General in charge of training and, apparently, a man concerned enough to warn someone who had worked for him 7 years before. David and Schatzki both lived to 93 years of age.
@@IntrospectorGeneral You have to remember Heinkel's grudge against the regime due to the whole He-112/100 fiasco. The Junkers thing was completely different. Those who had worked with Hugo Junkers had a steeper learing curve on being humane and hating the Nazis than most. The Old Man was stripped off his company by the Party, because of that.
Alas, you have a point about the public and private life cross-over Agreed.
The hostility between the Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy was considerably more than borderline.
Then why did the IJN escort, land and supply all those IJA army units?
@@nowthenzen
Why did Stalinist Russia and the UK ally? You can work with people that you are mutually hostile with when you have goals in common.
The Imperial Japanese Army knew that the Imperial Japanese Navy's top radio codes were broken and couldn't be bothered to tell the Navy.
@@nowthenzen
You do realize the IJA literally built its own amphibious assault ships and even light aircraft carriers because the IJN refused to let it use the navy ships?
@@bkjeong4302 You realize the navy operated their own land based combat forces? Talk about a system built around dysfunction!
Japanese senior officers were literally caught in plots trying to assassinate each other. It's really not up for debate that their "system" was a complete mess.
Fun Fact:
There are no surviving intact Mitsubishi A5M but however the sunken ship the Fujikawa Maru in Chuuk Lagoon contains a disassembled A5M in its cargo hold alongside a A6M Zero!
Well, time to go diving I guess
Do the plans exist? Can we erm... Make a whole new one?
You can find a MS 2004 Flight Sim version of the A5M4 at Sim Aviation as a free download.
the state of Fujikawa Maru (as the other wrecks in the lagoon) seems to be deteriorating rather fast. Comparing to my first time dives there in 2012, in 2017 the ships were in visibly worse shape. Wonder how long it will take for them starting collapsing en masse.
In other words, hurry up and go dive Truk while you can!
If I were to build a full-scale replica of a Japanese fighter aircraft, I think the A5M4 would be my first choice.
Design process and testing of this plane is shown (as a central plot) in Miyazaki's movie "The wind rises", which also features many strange interwar planes featured on this channel!
Great film thanks for the mention
A fantastic Studio Ghibli movie, as always.
@@anzaca1 >as always
hah nope
This aircraft had a special coating. It gave it a light golden yellow color. This was supposed to protect its surface areas. This was a varnish that darkened with age. There were articles on it that scale modelers followed, like myself.
Ian K. Baker's guide to Japanese aircraft colours and Nick Millman's blog are the two trove treasure references I use all the time.
Thanks for mentioning the prototype powered by Hispano-Suiza. I have been thinking that may very well be the most elegant-looking WWII-era fighter.
Loving the coverage of inter war and early ww2 aircraft. Much appreciated.
1930s era fighters were remarkably cute.
And some of them are also sleek and beautiful, like the Dewoitine D.500 series (D.500, D.501, D.510).
@@Cuccos19 / Ahh… the French: what might have been. Of course now they have the sexy Rafale.
One of the most obnoxious myths in aircraft circles that never seems to die is people believing Howard Hughes outlandish claim that the Japanese ripped off his H-1 design when they made the A6M Zero. It's usually made by people who are completely unaware that the A5M Claude which had the same designer even existed. If you compare the Claude and the Zero you can easily see the resemblance in construction and design with the Zero being a natural evolution of the Claude. It's similar to how the Republic P-43 Lancer gave way to the later P-47 Thunderbolt and how they both have their roots in the Seversky P-35 because all three had the same designer in Alexander Kartvelli.
I love these videos - everyone knows about the Zero, but no one has heard of its predecessor (or at least I haven't) so it is very cool to see how the Zero came about.
you always see them in old school pacific war PC games....
4:55 , It is interesting that the F4U-1 Corsair with its inverted Gull wing had the same Wing dropping problem during low speed landings, Chance Vought later solved the problem with a small tab on the wing leading edge.
I never knew about this aircraft until I played IL2-1946 about fifteen years ago and I couldnt believe how it could turn!
same :)
The whole open vs. closed cockpit thing really works as a great example of how we contradict ourselves. Every single time someone creates something objectively better than the previous iteration, it takes a seemingly ludicrous amount of time before we actually accept it as fact. This applies throughout history: from vaccines and germ theory, to the concept of heliocentrism.
While i wholeheartedly agree with your statement, i still cant deal with automatic transmissions in trucks 😂 utterly infuriating to drive especially if you have to go from forward to reverse or vice versa quickly, im sure they are better in most ways, but i feel like they teach the driver bad habbits. Not managing engine rpm correctly when coming up to an incline or decline, over reliance on wheel brakes instead of engine braking etc. im unsure if im just stuck in the past, or if its valid. To me it completely seems like its causing a lack of attention to whats actually going on outside of the windscreen, which is made worse by the giant glossy glare rectangles manufacturers put in the dash these days (the infotainment screens which i also hate) 😂
The fixed landing gear might've been less aerodynamic than retractable, but it does look great. Throw in a silk scarf in the wind for maximum effect. A beautiful plane.
A5M is such an handsome airplane of the pre-1941 era.
Fun fact:
At one time, US intelligence thought that the A5M Claude, Ki-27 Nate, and the Ki-43 Oscar, were different sub-variants of the same plane. Also, these were supposedly inferior "copies" of the P-26 and P-36.
Proof: ua-cam.com/video/Qh3w82xgN4Y/v-deo.html
To be fair, this was before the internet and ubiquitous cellphone videos, so one can kind of understand how they might get the impression, based on the available intelligence gathering techniques at the time.
I watched John Wayne’s 1942 Flying Tigers movie and there was a scene where he was teaching the new pilots on aircraft recognition and one of these aircraft that they were to be wary of was a Nakajima (a Ki-27 Nate). But the pic he used was that of an A5M Claude.
@@swenhtet2861 Even with clear photos. They still looked the same to me.
US intelligence was way off at that time the KI-43 Oscar was a formidable fighter with outstanding maneuvering probably the best in the world in its time in the early 40's however it was overshadowed by the A6M2 ZERO being more famous due to it being a army fighter and not running into allied carrier fighters as it was land based . By the time the US navy got close it had been replaced by more modern types .
@@proofbox a bit undergunned and fragile compared to its nemesis the P-40
When the FW-190 first came out RAF Intelligence thought it was some sort of Curtis. During one of Johnnie Johnsons after action debriefs he was told this & he said 'if that's what they are can I have one?'.
I'd love to hear more about the pros and cons of the 'W' shaped wings. As a non-engineer, non-flyer, I was disappointed that they were not regarded as as good as the straight wings - they look so much more 'fighter' to me!
I’m not entirely sure myself, but I would guess it’s to do with lift acting only horizontally, meaning the extra surface area of the bent wings would not really produce much more lift than a wing of the same wingspan, but have higher drag.
The rationale for the design on the Corsair was to fit the biggest prop they could while maintaining carrier-specific features iirc
Not claiming to be an expert, but I believe W-wings have an advantage in terms of stability and maneuvering, particularly in dive and climb. However, as Big Slav Boy points out, it's something of a trade-off, and you have to get them dead right to be really effective. Pulling in the wingspan on a carrier-based aircraft (prior to folding wings) is obviously an advantage, but you're still looking for overall performance.
@@elanthys Generally considered a myth these days - it did aid in prop clearance, but not specifically for the prop, more for the landing gear. I’d imagine the same exact consideration was made for the early A5M prototypes, as the shorter fixed landing gear generated much less drag and were stronger, with a wide stance. As a carrier aircraft, the Corsair designers would have wanted the same; shortest landing gear possible with the widest track possible. There are other considerations as well, such as wing-folding and all the intercooler/oil cooler inlets in the inner wing leading edges. As a MUCH more advanced aircraft, I’m sure solving the aerodynamic issues wasn’t a big deal; the flaps on the Corsair are also massive.
@@EstorilEm It's not really a myth, rather a more complete explanation as to how the inverted gull wing of the Chance Vought Corsair came to be.
Besides this wasn't even unknown. I'm pretty sure I've heard Discovery Channel's Great Planes from around 1990 allude to these more specific reasons for the inverted gull wing.
The gull wing was such an elegant solution to prop ground clearance
Thanks for the video, Rex. The A5M was overshadowed somewhat by the later and more famous A6M. So it is good to finally get to know it better. It was probably a good idea they never went any further with the A5M3a. Think of the confusion when they came up against Spitfires and Seafires.
You've got the videos spot-on: great commentary - clear, measured & not rushing (as too many do); really interesting subjects & well-researched; useful photos & pictures. I wish more would follow your lead!
I always love that outro. It just makes all the planes look so... happy.
Important type in understanding where the Japanese were coming from. Their obsession with low weight would prove the downfall of the Zero as they were absent many safety systems that were standard on American fighters -- high performance but at the cost of many.pilots who did not return.
Excellent history!
I think most pilots didn't return because they weren't trained properly, since the Japanese doctrine was to not get hit, which isn't something a rookie can pull off, while an experienced pilot definitely could, and another big issue was the fact that Japanese pilots didn't take parachutes with them. American planes weren't that we'll armoured, Japanese cannon fire could punch through those armour plates. But the Americans had the right pilots for their doctrine and they actually tried to not unnecessarily kill their pilots by just going "oh you're going down? Do it for the emperor my homie."
Love your channel. Extremely informative without dramatis profoundus, to coin a term. Please keep this "style".
I really enjoy the focus you seems to have on the airplanes of th 20s and 30s. Thank you ever so much.
Another ripper from Rex! Obviously deeply researched but wearing that important dimension very lightly. Thanks again Rex.
Always loved this plane. I never do this but an episode on the etrich taube and it’s many variations would be a great video. A good thumbnail pic of that plane would def help clicks
excellent choice!
This is a fantastic vid on this aircraft! Rex you have exceeded expectations again!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I'm enjoying how this channel is growing , the videos for me are about the right length , interesting subjects and appear well researched great stuff !
This channel has rekindled my interest in aviation. Brilliant channel mate
Awesome work Sir
Thank you Rex, another great video. I've always had a soft spot for the 30s-40s IJN aircraft types. Very purposeful and clean lines.
Never get tired of that intro.
Excellent video, i love the a5m, i look forward to the video you mentioned in this one.
This is a wonderful channel. I know this comment sounds simpleminded, but I'm so impressed by the depth of the research I can't think of a better way to praise it.
Then check the Greg’s Airplanes page for a mind blow and a solid dose of engineering.
Loving ur informative videos, so much it made me re-install Great Battles 👍🏼
Wonderful!! A new video.
Great vid Rex, thanks for covering the Claude.
Sterling video, mate. Cheers.
Excellent documentary
Well this seems like an interesting channel
Fascinating. Thank you.
Thank You.
Great video
Really excellent, thank you.
Cant wait for the A6M video
Well done
Informative video; thank you.
Thankyou great to hear some Japanese aircraft history
Very well done
It's odd that the gull wing version dropped a wing on landing. A later gull wing design, the F4U Corsair did the same thing.
Yep but later Chance Vought fixed that Problem with a small Tab on the Wing leading edge
So I see that the wind still rises.
Such a beautiful airplane.
Excellent.
Nice job.
Now, I'm not saying that Supermarine stole the elliptical wing from the A5M or the Heinkel 112, but they might've just peeped a bit over their shoulders.
11:34 That drawing really makes it look like a fixed gear Spitfire... but definitely a Spitfire!
Great Vid as always Rex , blessed with a sprinkling of Oz wit , are you featuring the Zeros rise as well ?
Thank you.
Thank you
Interestingly the version with the in-line engine looked rather ‘supermarinish’ if I may say so…
Or perhaps a little Heinkelish...
@@birlyballop4704Definitely looks Heinkel AND Supermarinish
The M3 is a thing of beauty, even more than any of the others.
Elliptical inverted gull wings - the common ancestor to Spitfire and Corsair.
Cool, I was only vaguely familiar with this fighter.
There's a movie on it, well the designer, it's called When The Wind Rises I believe its a good movie, one of my personal favorites, I'd recommend you check it out.
@@UltraMegaAmazingSuperCowboy thank you for the recommendation
Very interesting video on a Japanese fighter plane not much mentioned in history.
At first sight on the first drawing it looks like a F4U with fixed gear.
Thanks for your precise and interesting work !
Reminds me more of a stuka
@@libertycowboy2495 The gear, yes indeed !
Hope to see your excellent series over on Rumble soon.
The wonderful A5M.
I'm looking forward to your video on the China "Incident" air war!
That would be cool nobody talks about that.
The KA-14 is a gorgeous plane. A thinner and sleeker Corsair
I noticed that the A5M had an odd vertical stabilizer rudder hinge. Its axis is canted forward and only is vertical when it is on the ground.
Does anyone have an information about this arrangement?
You save height and weight, while keeping a broad control surface.
Nice video ! I did “research” quite a bit on this for a project once. As far as I know the sole surviving A5M is inside a shipwreck in the truck lagoon together with some A6M airframes.
Btw one thing I was never able to figure out was the color of these. In some temporary descriptions they are called golden and I found the assumption that it might have been a coat of varnish over the aluminum skin that gave that impression. On the other side I also read about it being untreated aluminum. Any insights about that ?
Yes, at Truk in hold #2 of the Fujikawa Maru there is a A5M (the version with the enclosed cockpit) along with the A6Ms. The landing gear and engine are in the starboard aft mid gallery of hold #1. The plane may have been light gray but I did not look for a paint chip when there. I have read that the A5M was popular as a "squadron hack" to fly between airfields. Training aircraft may have been painted differently. The RAF often painted the undersides of trainers yellow.
I doubt they were left with "untreated" bare aluminum skins. Salt water and mist is very bad for aluminum so it would have been painted. The USAAF used unpainted polished aircraft late in WW2 from the idea that a rough paint job added weight and drag to the airframe. (the test may have been affected by comparing a plane with the worst paint job and the cleanest polished airframe available ) But keeping up the surface adds maintaince.
In classic aircraft that are left bare polished aluminum, from what the owners have told me, they have to polish them often and even a casual hand print will leave a mark. And with all that polishing eventually you will thin the skin to the point it has to be replaced. (each polishing microscopically removes metal)
Such a pretty thing. I wish someone would build a new one!
Fun fact : since no one had built a monoplane carrier plane before the general mindset was that it was impossible to make such a plane due to the higher stall speeds (though I would say it was a harder transition from monoplane to jets when it comes to carriers)
And so, when he showed them that he made a monoplane fighter they literally laughed at him (and partially in disbelief too I imagine) though I imagine he got the last laugh in the end considering how well it did
Mitsubishi did have to add flaps to get the drag and lift for landings slow enough.
You're the Drachinifel of the skies!
Anime : wind rise have a cool history of it and horigoshi
The M3 looks like a spitfire if it had been designed 5ish years before it actually was.
I would love to see a video on the Ki 32 Mary single engine bomber.
The wind rises ❤🛩❤
Request: de Havilland DH 88 Comet
Yeah. Rex is an Aussie. Why hasn't he covered the Mac Robertson's Air Race from London to Melbourne in 1934 yet?
Damn it I've seen this video before but I've watched the Ghibli movie about it and look where I came back crawling again.
When The Wind Rises is one of my favorite movies.
The Wing shape looks surprisingly similar to that of the D3A Val dive bomber.
I like to see a series on Blackburn aircraft
Good morning. You mention the Italian Breda ba 27 fighter. I can find little info on this machine other than the Regia Aeronautica didn't want it, and China bought 18. Maybe you have more details you could share? Thank you.
@Rex's Hangar >>> 👍👍
Looooong vídeo yeeeeeeeeessss mooooooooooooooooooreeeeeee
Was an A5M ever developed with a retractible undercarriage? Looks like a next logical step.
2:20 An engine named after it's own tick-over noise : )
GREAT CHOICE ! Such an under examined aircraft. The Army "Nate" gets so much attention in games and on UA-cam but the "Claude" gets almost NO love its kinda odd really.
As a flight sim aircraft it's pretty nimble, good climb rate and fairly fast.
There's reasons for the underrepresentations though. The "West" barely ever faced the A5M. Over China they didn't and in the Kamikaze attacks it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't care for the type or if they thought it was a Zero.
Meanwhile the "West" faced the Ki 27 in great numbers over Southeast Asia in late 1941 and "42 great numbers. I believe the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) only employed 3 squadrons of Ki-43s in that area, because it was still a new aircraft (and one with a major defect).
I believe the Dutch and Dutch East Indies and the early Guadacanal campaigns faced some A5M4 fighters.
I wonder if any of the Chinese Breda Ba.27's ever saw combat? Wikipedia says China only had 11 of them, and one source I read said the most Italian fighters in Chinese service were lost in training accidents or thru lackluster maintenance. Facts the Italians never bothered to tell the Chinese government. I'd love to know how the Ba.27 would've done against the A5M and Ki-27.
Sorry for late reply
Yes it shot down 4 to 8 Japanese planes during the war and one pilot made ace with 3 kills on this plane and 2 on others. This information is not online however, you need to get the Nationalist Chinese Aces book from Osprey to learn more.
Hope this helps.
Hello,very well researched.It looked as though would have tip-stall.I recall a Kawasaki in RAF,Cosford ,rare aeroplane.Excuse me trying to work out your accent- not Australian?
He is British
Interesting.
Which way is the rising sun?
TORA! 🙂
Random side note, not related to this topic (warning: anime reference ahead):
On the mention of the Kotobuki engine, my mind instantly recalled a scene from "Project A-Ko," with C-Ko Kotobuki introducing herself (quoted: "Kotobuki! C-ko desu, yoroshiku onegaishimasu!").
No offense meant, just a random occurrence. Please carry on.
Northern Italian aircraft in the first few decades were interesting. FIAT etc..
Both the A5M and the Spitfire had elliptical wings. Did they have similar maneuverability?
The head on drawing looks like a corsair.
One aspect you can focus on in the next video will be 'What went so wrong with Chinese tactics or training' that you get the result noted here (13.12 / 13.38)
27 Pk I 16s downed for 3 A5M4 when the PKI 16 was the *faster* plane is ................ well, its inept.
Later, with the arrival of American P40 'Flying Tigers' the Chinese were shown how to use speed to offset relative lack of agility.
I believe some of these were converted into float planes correct?
The most dependable plane.
It all started here that’s why old Mitsubishi cars are so dependable
Better known as the Mitsubishi -1.