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Mitsubishi J8M2 Shūsui by Uncle T

FOR VERSION 1.3!

My take on the Mitsubishi J8M2 Shūsui (literally Autumn Water, but used as a poetic term meaning "Sharp Sword") rocket propelled interceptor. And yes it's just my Me-163 in different colours. :)

It's an approximation, not a 1:1 replica.

This is the Japanese version of the German Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet rocket propelled interceptor.

Just like with the Me-262 the Japanese were to license-build the plane and get access to the plans and an actual plane, but the submarine carrying those were sunk and so the Japanese engineers had to copy the plane from a basic Komet manual.

In use the speed never to exceed was 900 kph and this version can reach 850 kph in level flight.
It was designed to intercept primarily allied bombers and the J8M2 version was armed with two 30 mm Type 5 automatic cannons which could do serious damage with just a few hits.
Each gun only had 30 rounds of ammunition so I approximated this with a slow-ish rate of fire.
Sadly the cannons are so big in the game that the plane becomes a bit extra bulky at the wing root.

The plane had no proper landing gear but a retractable skid and rear wheel, and to take off a small discardable trolley with two wheels was used. The game does not like a small, narrow trolley and using the planes rear wheel and just spins around on the ground so I had to make the trolley a bit bigger.
The trolley will release automatically at about 220-230 kph and the plane can take off.

The J8M2 only had enough rocket fuel for about 7,5 minutes of powered flight, and the plane was notoriously difficult to control under certain circumstances like when landing, and landings were often hard on both plane and pilot.

Only about 7 prototypes were built and the war ended before they ever saw any action.

Alt controls to fly.
W/S: Variable Throttle.
Space: Handbrake. Do not forget to disengage before trying to take off!
A/D: Yaw/Rudder.
Up/Down arrow: Pitch.
Left/Right arrow: Roll.
X/Disable steering: Landing skid.
Fire action 1/Num 1: Cannons.
Fire action 8/Num 8: Manual release of trolley.

A note: The small propeller in the nose had nothing to do with propulsion but drove a generator for the electric system.

Feel free to edit, but if you reupload publically in any way please acknowledge the original creation and creator.

Have fun!