#2000hp

[radracer]

2022 Ford Transit Special Supervan 4 electric powered by 4 motors 2000hp

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

OMG I'm such a dumbass I knew you did one on the GR Yaris before too, and I love her ALSO, but I actually meant the GR Supra 😳🫣 (slip of the tongue)

Gotcha.

Since I managed to take some two weeks to answer this (got distracted both by real life obligations and other posts that were meant to be very quick to make. Meant to.) y'all may have forgotten, but our dear friend of the blog had asked for opinions on the GR Yaris, hinting to its controversial status. Turns out the GR Supra is what that request, and thus that hint, was actually about - so let's talk about the car and the controversy that engulfs it.

In 1993, Toyota launched the fourth generation of its rear wheel drive sportscar (well, arguably a bit of a Grand Tourer, i.e. something more oriented to cruising than a sportscar) the Supra - which was born a quarter century earlier as a more upmarket, six cylinder version of the Celica, graduating from Celica Supra to its own dignified name with the third generation I talked about that one time I forgot to check what blog I was reblogging with.

But this time, things would be different. Most notably because the inline six the Mk4 Supra came out with was an absolute MONSTER.

Remember how I talked about the GT-R's RB26 engine being one of the greatest, most coveted production engines to ever come out of Japan? Well, the 2JZ-GTE is the other.

It was larger at 3 liters, no less powerful, and to reduce turbocharger lag it used two of them sequentially: first air goes in the smaller, more responsive turbo, then gradually some of it gets sent to the bigger turbo to make it start spinning, then when it gets going the two are finally used in conjunction. (Imagine the big turbo as a hung husband that takes a while to get it up and the small turbo as an eager stepson ready to take over until the hung one can join in for a spitroast. Or something. I don't watch porn with real people, but from what I gather the plots seem to resemble how sequential turbos work.) It even at one point got Variable Valve Timing, i.e. the ability to vary the time in which the valves open depending on engine speed, which allows to optimize tuning for performance and efficiency! (Cool thing to go over in detail if y'all want me to.) And also, the kind of things that engine is able to take make me wish I hadn't used up my porn analogy quota.

See, to chop off eons of nuance, an engine is just a big block of metal with a lot of bits attached, and the two main measures of an engine's potential are the slope of the line in the Bits Fiddled With / Power Output graph and how far up (It's up, right? The second axis you specify is the vertical one, right?) you can take it before the block becomes the weakest link - with another important point being when you need to start messing with internals, i.e. the components inside the engine, e.g. pistons (the things the boom pushes down), camshaft (the thing the pistons spin) and connecting rods (you can guess).

So for instance, just to make the point that an engine can be beloved without having much overall tuning potential, in one of Toyota's most beloved engines, the 4A-GE four cylinder illustrated above (yes, the one from that white and black car in all the eurobeat videos), some pin the block's limit as low as 250hp. The 2JZ, tho? It can take 800hp without even messing with the internals, and once you get your grubby hands on those you can keep pushing the line to some 2000hp. That is two Bugattis. That is 40 times my car. That is well above the power level where "tires that will at any point grip" and "tires that are in any way road legal" stop intersecting.

I am not in the slightest exaggerating when I say that this and the Skyline GT-R are widely regarded as the top of Japan's 20th century automotive production. The Messi & Ronaldo of the Japanese Domestic Market. It is absolutely no coincidence this was the hero car in The Fast And The Furious.

And then in 2002, as all things, its production ended, and given the abysmal sales and catastrophic recession, Toyota decided that would be that.

And then, years later, The Teasening began.

I want to stress, almost half of my conscious life (I choose to believe the stretch from birth to kindergarten is just run-up) the world was in some state of getting teased with talk of a new Supra. The trademark on the name was renewed in 2010. In 2014 they dropped the FT-1 concept, and of course that became speculation about what the production version would look like.

Because come the fuck on, it's not gonna look like that.

Or was it?

Only five entire years and much more teasing later would we officially get an answer, when after seventeen years, the Toyota GR Supra (and for those wondering what GR means, y'all should've clicked the Yaris link >:C) hit the streets.

You know what, good enough.

Good enough to earn itself a sea of words of praise, Jason Cammisa's "The most punch-above-its-weight sportscar ever made" just some among them.

It did have its share of problems at the start, like its power being 335hp and not 382, a lack of manual transmission, and the inability to spec it with a less powerful 4 cylinder engine - well, I don't know who considered that last one a problem, but Toyota's updates solved that one too.

The Supra has a much bigger problem than those though, one no little update can solve. That red car in the background.

See, the new Supra is actually a joint venture with BMW, who made a new model of its Z4 roadster out of the platform. And unlike with the other joint-venture sportscar Toyota sells, people are big mad about that. Why?

See, the interior is engulfed in BMW switchgear and the drivetrain is all BMW (the manual gearbox took until this year to come out because BMW did not have one for that engine so Toyota had to modify another BMW transmission to fit), giving people the impression that this was less of a joint venture and more of a BMW project that Toyota tacked its design on top of, which is a problem whether true or not.

See, a range-topping sportscar is supposed to represent what the brand is capable of - having it done by someone else (or so the criticism goes) is a bit like performing Hallelujah in playback.

Actually, a better musical analogy: You know "I'm back bitch" singles? When a humongous artist drops a new record with a humongous lead single about absolutely nothing but reaffirming they're the biggest fucking deal in the universe? Without Me, Bad, Gimme More, so on. Well, think of SexyBack - one of the most monumental phenomenons of its decade, most incontrovertibly proving Justin Timberlake sat atop the goddamn world. Now, imagine if, after all the years that went by between that record and the next, when he finally came out with Suit And Tie all the verses were Jay-Z. Going from a humongous statement about having the power to reach the top of the game and stay there to having to get absolutely carried by what in this logic is essentially a competitor. Basically, that's the critics' complaint: the supra went from 2JZ to too much Jay-Z.

And therein lies the other problem of the Supra: the Supra.

See, any time you evaluate something, you do so relative to its context - and when you give it a nameplate, you make that context include where else that nameplate has been. An undeserved name may not just be stupid, but even outright kill the car in some's eyes, see the case of the Dodge Dart, or get me to talk about the Ford Capri prototype recently spotted if you want to find out what I'm like when I lose my cool. (I'd liken this phenomenon to undeserved Grammies but I already used my music analogy quota too.) So the Toyota Supra does not just need to be good, it needs to deserve the name. And some argue it doesn't. But why? This thing is no less powerful, no slower, hell it's not even any bigger or heavier and we've gone over how rare that is these days! So is it the lack of backseats and a targa version? No, no one gives a crap about those. It's something deeper.

Sometimes, the problem with a revival is people base their expectation not on what the original was like in the context of its time but what it's like in the context of today (for example, I've heard people call the latest GT-R "too computerized, too assisted, far from the pure driving experience of its predecessors", when its predecessors had some of the most technologically advanced driving assists of their time and could only be called "pure" and "analog" by comparison with cars decades newer). But of course, that'll only be some people - so if what the original car looks like to modern eyes and what the original car represented at its time are two different enough concepts, any revival will receive some criticism for not being one of the two.

But for the Supra, this compounds with another problem: the original Supra (as in the previous generation, since no one gives a crap about the first three), to modern eyes, looks like a thousand-horsepower flame-spitting beast, because that's what all Supras have been turned into, and that's why you know of Supras in the first place (it sure isn't because people bought it!), and that, consciously or not, exacerbates the problem of misplaced expectations to a level akin to hearing an NBA player is about to have a brother and expecting the baby to be a 6'4" three-shooter.

But I wasn't asked about the controversies, I was asked about my take. And my take is: no realistic expectation of what a Supra would look like today was disappointed - at least not by where the car stands today. Well, unless the expectation involved backseats.

"But it was made by BMW" and so? This is a new Supra, and a good one - what does it matter how it got here? Especially when this is an upgrade over the Z4 in every way - looks way better, drives better, and now has a manual that the Z4 doesn't.

Okay, almost every way: the Supra's roof won't get out of the way. If only though, if only. Could you imagine a Toyota product that looks this good, sounds this good, goes this fast, and has a drop top? ...and maybe backseats?

Well, I can.

Yes, the badge and core concept may have some people consider it from midlife crisis mobile to old man's car. (though we know it's not a car bought by old men because if that was the case someone would be buying these). But just try to imagine sitting in this thing.

Take a couple of seconds to take in that picture and truly immerse yourself. You're in a Lexus LC500 Convertible, with a V8 at your right foot's command, its spectacular sound ready to battle the perfect sound system serenading you with your fanciest CD, because of course Lexuses still come with CD players.

Are you immersed? Okay: Someone just called your Lexus a midlife crisis car. See? You don't give a shit either, do ya.

Automatic only though. The pain. Oh, and it kind of costs as much as two Supras. But, you know, neither of those Supras will be convertibles!

Links in blue are posts of mine about the topic in question - if you liked this post, you might like those!

[versegm]

Fate lines that have granted me a permanent debuff that inflicts -2000hp whenever I remember them

Do you see it, my king? The continuation of your dream?

All these flowers... in my underworld...

Senpai, will you hold my hand one last time?

[lukesrandomstuffandwhatnot]

Spoiler: I do kinda love after you beat Jonathan Jone's in his rematch. Johnny just straight up admits he doesn't care if "He had won or lost". His wish was to really have Mario kick him in the gut to the very end and light his spark. Make him burn brightly like a blue flame. This is probably why you cannot simply "game over" on purpose with his fight because throwing is not making his wish come true. He wants to go out and use his full power, no items or party members.

He wants you TO fight like a boss, no healing, no items, just two guys using magic and raw fighting power. It makes you realize what it's like to be on the receiving end of the bosses in game using your max out gear and powers on you. It's hard as heck but it is such a good feeling when you do win over his massive 2000hp pool as he throws moves you have to block perfectly.

Anyway, Jonathan Jones is so cool. Cool dude for a man in a shark suit.

[auto-biog]

2000HP Prius build

What do you think?

[usafphantom2]

21 July 1944. First flight of the Mikoyan/Gurevich I-225. Soviet fighter prototype powered by a Mikulin AM-42B 12-cylinder liquid-cooled Vee engine equipped with a TK-300B turbo-supercharger on its starboard side, affording 2000hp for take-off.

@ron_eisele via X

[petterwass]

Stage 11-11 things:

Andreana deploys to draw fire from Ifrit. Because Andreana is a Sniper with over 2000hp, 30% damage resistance and regen. For a Sniper she is ridiculously hard to put down.

Oh did you fire your Arts-based artillery at my poor little Medic?

Did you know that Nightingale running S3 has 88 fucking Resistance to Arts damage? Meaning any Arts attack will do a piddling 12% of its damage to her, not even ripping the edges of her gown.

Nightingale doesn't care one bit really. She could be a honorary Abyssal Hunter the way she eats artillery shells to her adorable face.

[infinitrix]

*The shadow sees you on the ground.

*He picks you up and starts crying on you.

*He can no longer talk

@deputyclover

*i dispel the claws as i pass out a note falls from my pocket* [+2000HP]

*read it?*

*thanks to deputy and justice for not letting me die*

[camelliagwerm]

seeing cassia delete a near 2000hp boss in approximately 3-4 turns (in about 2-3 rounds) of hers. god i love my lady navigator so much.

[justadumbasskid]

A new security system. Bigger, longer, and twice as hard as the first one.

Using an Ancient Point Defense turret I looted from an ancient bunker. On both sides of it will be dual autocannons. In front of it will be charge blaster turrets. In front of the autocannons will be heavy auto-turrets. All chambered in HE-AP rounds.

Tested the system on the Diabolus. Worked very well! Its escorts were destroyed by mortar fire. So I don't know how well the system will work against Mechanoid hordes.

It did take the Diabolus a super long time to get inside, though. So I installed a second entrance tunnel going over the top. Also, high-explosive rounds were very bad for the granite walls of the tunnel. So I replaced them with armored uranium that has 2000hp. About 4 times as much as granite.

You may have seen this mod on the Workshop recently. I decided to tear out the rear shield walls and replace them with giant uranium slug turrets. They fire 57mm HEAT cannon shells. I spawned a Centipede using devmode and they were able to kill it in one shot.

[tales-of-asteria]

Bond Soul Quest Duration: 12/12 (Mon) 16:00 ~

New Bond Souls will be added to the list from said date.

Kanata: +2000HP

Misella: heals 1500HP every turn

Vicious: +500ATK

Yuna: +250ATK +1000HP

Meakyu: reduces damage by 6%

Ivis: +250ATK +300DEF

��� Stats are for a 3☆ Bond Soul at lv99. ※ Bond Souls can be equipped to anyone, but only the “soulmate” will receive the second element (only when Bond Soul reaches lv99).

(More on Bond Awakening here.)

[gurokawadarling]

like whenever i see an artist draw him with them i replenish 2000hp

[lukesrandomstuffandwhatnot]

Yeah, sure. Yari-em Speardovich always did look like a "Lankey Lizard/Dragon Robot-spear" kinda thing.

Being able to turn into things always did seem kinda cool.

BUT WOW, YARIDOVICH IS SUCH A BUTT-KISSING LOSER. The remake even goes out of it's way to poke fun at him.

Johnny is so much cooler! A man in a suit who punched a shark to death? THEN wore it as a suit, and now is commanding a fleet of shark people who respect him enough to defend him? AND he has honor before reason when he's the one to corner Speardovich's "I'mma run away now BYE."

And then his rematch stats show he was "holding back" his power the first time and has stats of 2000HP to make Yaridovich's 1200hp blush in how weaker it is.

Johnny's so cool.

[vividracing]

New Post has been published on https://www.vividracing.com/blog/what-is-a-drag-pack-comparing-5-different-drag-wheels/

What Is A Drag Pack? Comparing 5 Different Drag Wheels!

Are you on the hunt for new wheels so you can get traction at the strip? Well you have landed at the perfect article! Here we will explain in our latest YouTube video what a Drag Pack is and compare 5 different drag wheels available. Whether you are needing these for your Mustang, Camaro, Corvette, or 2000hp Lamborghini, Vivid Racing has the wheels you need to get the job done.

Race Star 92 Drag Star: https://www.vividracing.com/index.php?keywords=Race+Star+92.html&utm_source=YouTubeDescription-Tag&utm_medium=YouTube&utm_campaign=dragpack101

Weld Laguna S107: https://www.vividracing.com/index.php?keywords=Weld+S107.html&utm_source=YouTubeDescription-Tag&utm_medium=YouTube&utm_campaign=dragpack101

Weld Ventura S104: https://www.vividracing.com/index.php?keywords=Weld+S104.html&utm_source=YouTubeDescription-Tag&utm_medium=YouTube&utm_campaign=dragpack101

Forgestar D5: https://www.vividracing.com/index.php?keywords=Forgestar+D5.html?utm_source=YouTubeDescription-Tag&utm_medium=YouTube&utm_campaign=dragpack101

Forgeline CF1R: https://www.vividracing.com/index.php?keywords=forgeline+CF1R?utm_source=YouTubeDescription-Tag&utm_medium=YouTube&utm_campaign=dragpack101

Credit to the following for the supporting footage used: Race Star Wheels Forgeline Motorsports WELD Racing Goodyear Cleetus McFarland 1320Video Matt’s Off Road Recovery NHRA Global Metal Spinning Solutions Brady Houghton BowenzMotorsports BOOSTED LUCKEY StandMode MP3BOOSTED Kelley’s Garage DerekBaranProductions Street Speed 717 Chris Sullivan Jon Doc

Video transcript:

[Music] [Applause] welcome back to Vivid racing I’m Aaron and today we’re talking drag racing we’re talking about the spicy staggered setup the Big mey L Hoover 305 come alive this is drag pack 101 and by the end of this video you guys are going to have a solid foundation of what wheel setup to buy for your car whether you’re on the street or on the track or even both so first and foremost what is a drag pack technically speaking this is a term that Ford used back in the day however over time it has become commonly used to reference a lightweight wheel and drag tire package now on the front you will typically see a really skinny wheel setup these are called Front Runners or more commonly known as skinnies these will typically be about 4 and 1/2 in wide now the obvious reason for running these is weight reduction they’re quite literally half the size I have heard arguments that there’s more to it than just weight reduction but that is the basic principle here these really probably shouldn’t be used for daily driving considering they’re quite literally half the wheel of your traditional setup you’re going to run the risk of cracking a wheel from hitting a pothole due to how just simply how skinny they are there isn’t a whole lot of mass there to absorb the impact but the real risk is the lack of traction purely because there’s not much of a contact patch at all you’re quite literally getting half the amount of traction to steer your car so if you run into rain or inclement weather of any sort might get real spicy real quick but keep in mind for the daily drivers out there you don’t have to run a 4 and 1 12 in wheel on the front to get your drag packed look all the wheels I’m going to show you today all have great staggered fitment options to maintain skinnyish fronts now the biggest thing you want to look for when fitting the fronts is making sure you have a large enough Barrel to clear your brakes and spindles and everything else going on in there if you have like a six or eight piston brake kit with massive rotors you’re probably not going to fit a 15-in wheel on the front you’re probably looking a bit closer to your factory fitment which probably has like a 17 or 18in wheel that are typically 7 to 9 1/2 in wide unless you’re the Roll Racing GTR that’s four-wheel drive you don’t really need thick mey sidewalls on the fronts your goal is that you get just enough Tire on the ground to keep the car going straight with the least amount of rotational Mass possible often times you’ll even see people run the factory fronts wrapped in like a Mickey Thompson Street comp all right so that covers everything for the front so let’s move to the back where all that big meaty thickness is the overall goal here is to get a smaller radius wheel that opens up the wheel well for a big old meaty sidewall and to have that big old wide and thick contact patch you may notice that your atypical drag pack is going to have bead locks on the rear as well this is so you can run a really low tire pressure to let that sidewall twist and grip on launch without the tire actually slipping on the wheel this is the same concept you see off-road vehicles using to grip in the dirt but rather than using a big knobby mud or dirt Tire they’re using a big smooth drag radial or drag slick all said and done the recipe is a small radius wheel plus a thick contact patch plus a meaty sidewall plus an optional bead loock all of that together equals Maximum Traction now an example of why you want a really meaty sidewall is perfectly illustrated by Top Field drag cars when they launch obviously this is at a much greater scale than a street car but the same principles apply the twisting of the sidewall is the tire working to grab traction and it lets the contact patch do its job and grip the track and stops the Wheel from just spinning into a burnout drag races are often won and lost by The 330t Mark or even the 60t mark getting that launchd down is critical now the reality is 98% of all cars don’t really need a bead loock typically anything under 800 horsepower you don’t need a bead loock but if I’m honest if I could afford a good bead loock I would do it in an instant I just I love the way they look they just they do it for me now for sizing you’re generally looking anywhere from 15 to 18in wheels that are at a minimum 10 in wide but as my old man told me a 12-in wide tire is where boys become men just keep in mind clearances it is really easy to put on a 12-in wide wheel on your base C5 because they technically do fit but they rub in every possible way they even poke out quite a bit and next thing you know the fiberglass on your rear quarter panel is cracked from hitting a pothole at 80 Mi an hour if wheel fitments confuse you you’re not alone we have a bunch of Wheel fitment videos that cover all sorts of platforms that can help so make sure you check out some of our older videos If you’re looking to learn more about that but if you guys want to keep learning and seeing us compare different car parts make sure you guys hit subscribe and while you’re at it smash the like button also follow us on Instagram our boy Shane makes a ton of build content on a daily basis to get your build started and if that isn’t enough and you’re looking to go deeper make sure you’re jumping into Old forums and Facebook groups a good form can be a gold mine of information they are full of people who’ve either done it all on that specific platform or are currently going through and are just sharing what they’ve been doing with their car just buy or beware if and when you go to ask a dumb question cuz we all have dumb questions do yourself a favor and use the search bar first every form has a Search tool and every Facebook group has a Search tool as well it is very likely that somebody has already made a post looking for information about putting a corset exhaust on a Corvette so use the search tool before you ask so let’s compare a few different wheel brands that are popular among the drag racing community and as always links are in the description below along with a little discount code if you guys want to save a few of those Pennies on checkout at vividracing.com each of the following Wheels come in a standard wheel as well as a bead loock option for the rear so if you like one of these styles of Wheels but you don’t want the bead loock don’t worry that wheel is definitely an option to purchase so first up is an affordable cast wheel option we have the racar 92 drag series these are great for someone who is getting into aftermarket wheels but doesn’t want to break the bank these wheels technically retail for around $400 a piece but they are more often than not on sale for about $280 to $300 depending on the size of wheel out the door for a full set of these wheels you can expect to be around $1,200 they are a simple but classic five-spoke design that work on nearly any platform they pretty much always look good they make finding the correct fitment for whatever car you have a breeze their data catalog is huge now the biggest thing you want to be aware of with these rayar wheels is that you will need to use a shank style lug nut this is a trend in pretty much every drag pack that I’ve seen so far you are more likely than not going to need to get some shank style lug nuts if I’m honest the only real negative about these wheels is that they are cast wheel which isn’t inherently a bad thing but lightweight and durable and strong is the goal you certainly can go lighter and you most definitely can go a lot stronger but hey if this is what you can afford there is nothing wrong with that these are a great wheel to get the party started they’re not the fanciest thing in the world but they definitely work next up is where you get a bit more value but it does come with some extra cost the following three sets of Wheels here are flow forged meaning they are a combination of cast and forged wheel technology first up we have two offerings from weld we have the Laguna s17 which is a super clean design that I actually absolutely love this would absolutely be my top pick outside of going for like a super clean forged wheel setup now these retail for around $350 a piece all in all you can expect to be around $1,500 for a full set next we have the well Ventura s104 now in my eyes these are a direct upgrade from the RAR 92s that’s simply because they’re both of simple five-spoke design the Ventura s104 definitely has a little bit more premium look to it out the door a set of four of these wheels will cost around $16 to $1,700 once again based off of the size of the wheels you’re looking for and for our last flow forged wheel we have the forar D5 just another classic simple look you generally can find these wheels from $4 to $500 a piece out the door you’re looking at about $2,000 for a full set of these wheels now like I said these three sets of wheels are flow Forge aluminum so they’re going to be stronger and slightly lighter than a cast wheel like the RAR 92s but obviously they do cost a little bit more but I would argue that this little bit of extra cost is worth it in the long run flow forged wheels are probably where you get the most bang for your buck compared to anything else that we’ve talked about plus there’s a reason you see forg star and weld wheels everywhere in the drag racing Community they’re just a really good wheel but just like anything in life doesn’t matter how good something is something better will always come along that leads us to the top of our list the forged forg line cf1 RS these are a lightweight super strong forged aluminum wheels they come in at a spicy $1,500 a piece these are about as high quality as I guess some fitments are readily available but realistically these wheels are made to order with full customization this is the type of wheel you put on a 2,000 horsepower car that’s running deep into the sevens or even in the sixes in the quarter mile but if you want to fleux on your buddies at cars and coffee and be future proof for all the horsepower and tourque you could ever dream of this is your wheel one day when I can essentially double the value of my car by throwing a set of these on it rest assured I will absolutely make the poor life choice without hesitation if you haven’t mathed it up already a set of these wheels will run you about $6,000 and that’s if you don’t do any customization to them and for that price why not just go a little bit deeper and add a little on to get the perfect fit and finish so there it is that is drag pack 101 plus a few buying options to get the part already started now I really didn’t include any Tire fitment in this video because that’s its own realm of black magic and Wizardry so we’re going to cover that in an upcoming video so make sure you hit that notification Bell to know when it’s posted if you guys enjoyed today’s video definitely let us know in the comments but what helps us even more is if you guys use the links in the description below but that’s all I’ve got for you guys today thank you guys so much we’ll see you guys next time peace oh [Music]

[usafphantom2]

Was the Nakajima Ki-49 ‘Helen’ World War 2 bomber a terrible aircraft? And why didn’t Japan have truly heavy bombers?

Hush KitAugust 14, 2023

Despite over 800 being built, today the Nakajima Ki-49 bomber remains out of the historical limelight. Appropriately for such a seemingly introverted machine, it was assigned the almost comically innocuous codename ‘Helen’, after the wife of an Allied intelligence officer in the Pacific Southwest. In service with the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service and operating in dangerous skies, the type served as a bomber, anti-submarine patroller, transport and even as a kamikaze manned suicide aircraft. Often facing utterly fierce opposition, the bomber had a sting in its tails – and an even more potent one on its back. Often condemned as vulnerable, we asked author George Eleftheriou for the truth about the shadowy ‘Storm Dragon’.

“It wasn’t vulnerable! Would you call the Dornier Do 217 or the Tupolev Tu-2 or the Vickers Wellington vulnerable? Why is it that only Japanese aircraft have this reputation?”

What is the closest Allied analogue to the Helen, and how did it compare?

Rather difficult to answer. Combat-philosophy-wise the Martin B-26 Marauder would be the closest one. A fast medium level bomber that would have been able to conduct raids in lightning speed avoiding getting intercepted by enemy fighters was a common concept in many air forces around the world.

The B-25 Mitchell is a second close but the ground attack role it was largely assigned to in the Pacific did not match the combat deployment of the “Donryu”. With only a 7.7-mm flexible machine gun in the nose, it simply could not do any serious strafing attacks like the Mitchell could.

The US B-26 Marauder had a maximum speed of 287mph and the Mitchell even less, at 272mph. In theory, Helen was faster than both, with a spritely top speed of 305mph. That’s only on paper, of course. In reality the “Donryu” (Storm Dragon) was much slower, with a max speed never exceeding 400km/h as beyond that, the engines badly misbehaved. As it was equipped with engines of only 1410 horsepower engines, compared to the hefty 2000hp and 1700hp of the two US bombers, this speed could only be achieved by sacrificing the bomb load. “Donryu” could carry a ton of bombs while the US bombers could carry almost double. In the Pacific Theatre, where most combat took place over jungles, big bombs did not really matter. Where they mattered most was against ships. Therefore, Helens, like Mitchells, normally carried 50kg bombs and quite often cluster bombs. But the extra ton the US bombers carried meant higher destructive capability and success rate.

What was the best thing about it?

The Donryu was the first Japanese Army bomber with a tail gunner operating a 7.7mm machine gun. An improvement over the Mitsubishi Ki-21 “Sally” that only had a remotely operated machine gun on the tail. But in any case, the role of the tail gun was to force the enemy fighters out of this vulnerable blind spot and into the sights of the heavier and more destructive 20-mm cannon Donryu had on its dorsal position.

And the worst?

I would have to say its engines. Underpowered, difficult to maintain and prone to breakdowns.

How many were lost in combat, and to what causes?

Difficult to answer. No loss statistics by the Japanese Army have survived, if any were kept. Model 1 Ki-49s were retired once Model 2s became available and they were assigned to some flight schools in Japan and probably to a few transport units. It could be said that most Model 2s, the model that saw the most combat, were shot down but a good number was destroyed on the ground by Allied bombing raids.

Was it based on another design or was it developed into another type?

Neither. It was an original design by Nakajima and there was a small number of models and test aircraft but it had no successor.

What was its most important historical contribution?

None I know of. The tail gunner maybe?

Who used it?

Unlike Allied aircraft types that were operated by different nations, it only saw action with the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. If you’re asking about units, the 7th, the 61st, the 62nd, the 74th and the 95th Sentai were the primary units that flew the type.

(Ed – I believe it did have some post-war use by the French in Indochina, with Indonesian guerilla fighters and as a transport with the Royal Thai Air Force though I’m happy to be corrected if wrong)

What was its worst operational experience?

If you’re talking about combat missions, then it must be the loss of eight 62 Sentai Donryu and one damaged during a single raid against Ledo, Assam, India, on March 27, 1944.

Another unpleasant experience was the loss of nine 74th Sentai “Donryu” and four seriously damaged during a ground attack raid by US Navy aircraft in Luzon, the Philippines, on November 19, 1944.

Why was it so vulnerable?

It wasn’t! Would you call the Dornier Do 217 or the Tupolev Tu-2 or the Vickers Wellington vulnerable? Why is it that only Japanese aircraft have this reputation?

Would you say it was the worst Japanese aircraft, and is that what interested you about the aircraft?

It was definitely not the worst Japanese aircraft. There were other types with higher attrition rates, like the Mitsubishi G4M ‘Betty’ and technically speaking the much venerated Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa with its meagre 7.7mm machine guns was completely obsolete by the time it started to be produced.

Perhaps this kind of infamy was stuck to the Donryu because it has been considered an easy-to-shoot-down type. But contrary to non-Japanese sources, many Donryu that are counted as “kills” by Allied fighter pilots, did manage to bring their crew back to base.

Its engines left much to be desired and therefore it can be said that it was not a good aircraft. It was definitely not an overall improvement over the older Mitsubishi Ki-21 Sally except for a few features like the tail gun and the 20-mm dorsal cannon.

But as the reader can find in the Osprey publication, the crews who had no previous experience with the Sally and therefore couldn’t compare the two types, were not particularly unhappy with the aircraft and did their best with what they had. For example, the crews and bombers excelled during night missions. As explained in the book, most Helen losses were caused by miscalculation, bad tactics or simply bad luck. For sure, more powerful and reliable engines would have resulted in a much better aircraft but I cannot say the Donryu was a death-trap. At best it was a mediocre type that, in my opinion was placed into production to appease Nakajima after its original design was ‘borrowed’ by Mitsubishi to produce the Sally. But objectively speaking, Nakajima always had issues with its engines, whereas Mitsubishi produced better ones and therefore superior aircraft. It was the mindset of the Japanese Army (and Navy) compounded by the technological limitations of the Japanese industry and the reality on the ground that failed to provide the Japanese bomber crews with better really heavy bombers.

Much has been debated as to why the Japanese (and the Germans) never put into production a really heavy four-engined bomber. Both the Sally and the Helen were developed as fast bombers with the possibility of a war against the USSR in mind and combat operations in Siberia where no industrial centres or other major targets existed. Therefore the bombers were designed to quickly attack troop concentrations and fortifications, mirroring similar German tactics. When the Sino-Japanese War broke out, the bombers were assigned to exactly these roles and occasionally attacked cities aiming mostly on military targets rather than conducting carpet bombing that was later employed by the Allies.

Similarly during the Pacific War, Japanese bombers targeted enemy troop concentrations closely liasing with the infantry. Strategic bombing was never necessary since there were no appropriate targets. The Japanese Empire wanted to capture the oil fields of South East Asia and put them to use, not destroy them. In the opening days of the war, Allied held airfields were not targeted; the enemy aircraft found on them were. Because the airfields were expected to be captured by the advancing infantry and then be operated by the Japanese aircraft.

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When the need arose for really heavy bombers, such as during the attacks against the Allied bases in Assam or later during attacks against bigger bases that were built by the Allies like on Morotai Island and Leyte, that’s when the Japanese industry and technology failed to deliver, mostly because it lacked experience with four-engine designs (except for flying boats). In any case, newly delivered four-engined heavy bombers would have created new challenges, requiring bigger and better constructed airfields and more efficient logistics to support heavier bomber operations. The Japanese could barely supply enough fuel for their Helen and Sally-equipped bomber units and never got even close to the logistic capabilities of the Allies.

The Helen, like many other Japanese aircraft types, has this reputation of being a bad aircraft that was vulnerable and quickly shot down by Allied pilots. The more I delved into original Japanese sources, like testimonies from bomb crews, the more I realised that the complete story has not been told and that inspired me to write this book with Osprey.