On July 7, 1945, the prototype J8M1 Shusui made its one and only powered flight at a high cost
Germany and Japan came to an arrangement in late 1943 wherein the latter would provide its Axis ally with a prototype, blueprints, and motors for the ground-breaking rocket-powered Me 163 Komet interceptor. Japan was also to receive further technical data pertaining to the aircraft’s production process. Both the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force (IJNAF) and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) expressed a strong interest in developing licensed versions of the Me 163 to aid in preventing anticipated B-29 Superfortress bombing raids of the Japanese home islands by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF).
Japanese military attachés bought a license for a Walter HWK 109-509 rocket engine from the Germans for 20 million Reichsmarks after learning about the Komet and its potential. Despite these agreements, Japan encountered obstacles in getting a full Me 163. On March 30, 1944, the Japanese submarine RO-501 sailed from Kiel, Germany, bound for Kobe, Japan, with a disassembled model and its rocket engine. On May 13, 1944, U.S. Navy ASW aircraft flying out of the escort carrier Bogue sank RO-501 in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
Additionally, when the USS Sawfish (SS-276) sank the Japanese submarine I-29 off the Philippines on July 26, 1944, the Me 163 technical data, blueprints, and engines loaded into the I-Boat were also lost.
Due to these setbacks, as described by Mark Chambers in his book Wings of the Rising Sun, the Japanese were compelled to create their own Komet using a general Me 163 instruction manual that IJNAF engineer Cdr. Eichi Iwaya had acquired. The resulting aircraft, given the IJNAF’s J8M1 Shusui (“Sharp Sword”) and the IJAAF’s Ki-200 designation, was going to be made by Mitsubishi. The Yokosuka-based 1st Naval Air Technical Arsenal also produced the Walter HWK 109-509 engine in the Japanese nation.
Three J8M gliders, known as the MXY8 Akigusa (“Autumn Grass”), were also built by the Arsenal to gather fundamental aerodynamic and handling data for the rocket-powered aircraft. On December 8, 1944, the MXY8 successfully conducted its first flight over the Hyakurigahara airport, with Lt. Cdr. Toyohiko Inuzuka serving as the test pilot. By that time, Japanese engineers had created the 3,307lb thrust Toko Ro.2, their own version of the Walter HWK 509A rocket engine. Last but not least, the J8M1 was to be equipped with two 400-rpm 30mm Ho-155 cannons.
On July 7, 1945, the prototype J8M1 made its pricey first and only powered flight. After a successful rocket-powered takeoff, Lt. Cdr. Inuzuka jettisoned the undercarriage dolly, and the aircraft rocketed upward at a 45° angle. However, the engine shut off as the plane ascended to a height of 1,300 feet, forcing the J8M1 to stall.
Just as Inuzuka was about to successfully glide the plane back to the airstrip, he collided with a small building close to the runway, causing the J8M1 to crash and catch fire. Inuzuka passed away from his wounds the next day. Until the Ro.2 engine could be changed and the issue fixed, all upcoming J8M1 flights were canceled. When the war ended on August 15, 1945, flight testing was supposed to resume along with the J8M2’s development. Seven J8M1/Ki-200s had been made altogether by that point.
Soon after VJ Day, American occupation forces in Nagoya recovered three J8M1s, which were then transferred to the United States in November 1945. One of them was scrapped at “Pax River,” where two of them were transported for a thorough evaluation. In October 1946, one was moved to the Naval Air Station (NAS) Glenview, Illinois, where it was displayed before being scrapped.
The third Shusui was sent to the USAAF, examined there, and then moved to Hollywood, California, where it was also on display for the public. In 1948, Ed Maloney purchased this airplane from a Los Angeles fairground and subsequently added it to his ground-breaking Air Museum in Claremont, California. Since then, after being restored, it has remained a part of this collection and is now on display at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino.
In 1961, an unfinished J8M 1 was found in a cave near Yokosuka at Sugita. Two years later, it was presented to the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force. The aircraft, which had been abandoned for a long time, was refurbished by Mitsubishi between 1997 and 2001 and is now on exhibit in the company’s museum in Komaki Minami.
Photo by Alan Wilson from Stilton, Peterborough, Cambs, UK via Wikipedia
Wings of the Rising Sun is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.