Type 1 Chi-He

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Type 1 Chi-He
Specifications
Weight 17 t
Length 5.5 m
Width 2.2 m
Height 2.38 m
Crew 5
Armor 8-50
Primary
armament		 47 mm Type 1 gun
Secondary
armament		 2 x 7.7 mm Type 97 gun
(hull, coaxial)
Engine Mitsubishi Type 100 air cooled
V-12 diesel
240 hp (179 kW)
Suspension Bell crank
Operational
range		 Unknown
Speed 44

The Japanese Type 1 Chi-He was the successor to the Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank of World War II. Designed to replace the Type 97 Chi-Ha, the Type 1 was an overall improvement over its predecessor with a more powerful main gun, powerplant, and with thicker armour.

Contents

[edit] Production history

In response to the Type 97 Chi-Ha's poor anti-armor capabilities due to its low-velocity Type 97 57 mm main gun, a new series of tanks based on an improved Chi-Ha design was conceived. The first of this new series was the Type 1 Chi-Ha, which appeared in 1941.

Compared to the Type 97 the Type 1 was slightly longer and taller. Its thicker angled frontal armor was welded as opposed to riveted and it weighed an additional 2.032 tons (2 tons.) The Mitsubishi Type 100 diesel engine was 52 kW more powerful than the Type 97's Mitsubishi Type 97 diesel engine and was more than able to compensate for the additional weight of the Type 1. The Type 1 47 mm high-velocity turret had a barrel length of 2.250 m and a muzzle velocity of 810 m/s, almost double the penetration capability of the low-velocity Type 97 57 mm. The gun was placed in a new two-man turret allowing space for a loader.

One of best disposable Japanese tanks of WWII, in the last stages of the war the Medium Tank Type 3 Chi-Nu. This vehicle was based on the hull of Chi-He with new turret design around Type 3 75 mm gun and installed on the basic hull. The larger main gun and its turret (without a machine gun in its rear face) increased the combat weight to 18.80 tonnes, but as the 240 hp (179 kW) Diesel engine remained unchanged, the overall defect was a slight reduction in performance. Its production started in 1944, but Japan's increasingly acute production troubles limited manufacture to between 50 or 60 of these improved Tanks.

The main gun in this tank was the Type 1 47 mm Tank Gun with caliber of 47 mm, barrel length of 2.250 m (L48) EL angle of fire of -15 to +20 degrees, AZ angle of fire of 20 Degrees, muzzle velocity of 810 m/s and penetration of 55 mm/100 m, 30 mm/1,000 m.

The new medium tank Chi-He was developed in 1942. It was better than Chi-Ha in the speed and armor, but the IJA had little interest in this new tank. The 47 mm gun of Chi-He was already mounted on Chi-Ha and the factories were mass-producing the Chi-Ha. Almost two years after its development, the production of Chi-He began. However, Chi-He was not produced even a year after it was developed because of the production of the Chi-Nu.

Japanese industry was unable to produce enough tank bodies, and only fifteen trial models and one hundred fifty-five mass production models where completed. The surplus turrets and Type 1 guns were instead used on Type 97 chassis. This new Type 97 was designated as the 'Type 97 Shinhoto ("New Turret") Chi-Ha and 2,208 were mass-produced. The Type 1 turret was also used on the Type 3 Ka-Chi Amphibious Tank.

[edit] variants

  • "Ta-Ha"-A Chi-He with twin 37mm anti-aircraft guns fitted in place of the 47mm gun, very few ever built.

[edit] External links

[edit] See also


Japanese armoured fighting vehicles of World War II
Tankettes
Type 92 Jyu-Sokosha | Type 94 Te-Ke | Type 97 Te-Ke
Light Tanks
Type 95 Ha-Go | Type 98 Ke-Ni/Type 2 Ke-To
Amphibious Tanks
Type 2 Ka-Mi | Type 3 Ka-Chi
Medium Tanks
Type 89 Chi-Ro | Type 97 Chi-Ha | Type 1 Chi-He | Type 2 Ho-I | Type 3 Chi-Nu
APCs
Type 1 Ho-Ha | Type 1 Ho-Ki | Type 98 So-Da | Type 4 Ka-Tsu
Self-propelled artillery (including AA guns)
Type 98 20 mm | Type 98 20 mm AA Half-Track | Type 1 Ho-Ni I
Type 3 Ho-Ni III | Type 4 Ho-Ro
Japanese armoured fighting vehicle production during World War II