| G10N Fugaku | |
|---|---|
| Role | ultra-long-range Heavy bomber |
| Manufacturer | Nakajima Aircraft Company |
| Status | Project (cancelled) |
| Primary user | IJN Air Service |
The Nakajima G10N Fugaku (Japanese: 富岳 or 富嶽, "Mount Fuji"), was a planned Japanese ultra-long-range heavy bomber designed during World War II. It was conceived as a method for mounting aerial attacks from Japan against industrial targets along America's West Coast. Japan's worsening war situation, however, resulted in the project's cancelation and no prototype was ever built.
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The Fugaku had its origins in "Project Z",[1][2] a 1942 specification for an intercontinental bomber which could take off from the Kuril Islands, bomb the continental United States, then continue onward to land in German-occupied France. Once there, it would be refitted and make another return sortie.
Project Z called for three variations on the airframe: 4,000 bombers, 5,000 transports (capable of carrying 600 troops), and 2,000 gunships, which would carry 400 downward-firing machine guns in the fuselage, for intense ground attacks at the rate of 6,400 rounds per second.
While the project was conceived by Nakajima head Chikuhei Nakajima, Kawanishi and Mitsubishi also made proposals for the Fugaku. The Nakajima design had straight wings and contra-rotating four-blade propellers; the Kawanishi design had elliptical wings and single four-blade propellers. To save weight, some of the landing gear was to be jettisoned after takeoff (being unnecessary on landing with an empty bombload), as had been planned on some late-war German very long range bomber designs. Both designs used six engines.
Development started in 1943, with a design and manufacturing facility built in Mitaka, Tokyo. While Nakajima's 4-row 36-cylinder 5,000 hp Ha-54 (Ha-505) engine was abandoned as too complex, Mitsubishi successfully built the 2-row 22-cylinder Ha-50 engine for the Kawanishi design, testing three units in May 1944. An example of this engine was unearthed in 1979 during expansion of Haneda Airport and is on display at the Narita Aerospace Museum.
Project Z was cancelled in July 1944, and the Fugaku was never built.
Data from Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War[1]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
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