A5M Claude

Item#: FMPA5MC

MSRP Price: $299.95

Factory Direct Price: $199.95

In 1934, the IJN issued another request for a carrier fighter, and Mitsubishi and Horikoshi came up with a new design, the "Ka-14", with the same overall configuration as the 1MF10 but cleaner, and featuring all-metal construction, an inverted gull wing, and a Nakajima Kotobuki 5 nine-cylinder radial providing 410 kW (550 HP). The initial prototype performed its first flight on 4 February 1935. The prototype exceeded its speed requirements, but it had a number of handling problems.

As a result, the inverted gull wing was replaced in the second prototype by a flat wing with a slight outboard dihedral. The second prototype also featured an uprated Kotobuki 3 radial with 475 kW (640 HP). Four more prototypes were built that were similar to the second prototype, differing in small details and being used to evaluate a variety of engine fits. Following successful trials, the IJN approved production of the type as the "A5M1" or "Type 96 Carrier Fighter Model 1", powered by a Kotobuki-2-KAI-1 engine with 430 kW (580 HP). The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) also found the Ka-14 interesting, ordering a "Ki-18" prototype similar to the second Ka-14 prototype. The Ka-18 flew in the summer of 1935 and led to two prototypes of an improved "Ki-33" that first flew in the spring of 1936. However, the IJA did not order the Ki-33 into production.

The first A5M1s were delivered to the IJN in early 1937, with the type going into combat service over China, where it quickly obtained air superiority over Chinese forces. It was followed by the"A5M2a", with an uprated Kotobuki 2-KAI-3A engine, and then the "A5M2b" with a Kotobuki 3 radial, improved cowling design, a three-bladed fixed prop, and a sliding canopy. The sliding canopy would prove unsatisfactory and was deleted in late production.The final and definitive "A5M4" variant was basically much like the late-production A5M2b, but with a further uprated Kotobuki 41 radial and a centerline external tank with a capacity of 160 liters (42 US gallons). Initial deliveries of the A5M4 were in early 1938. The Allies would name it "Claude" during the war.

Allied intelligence also reserved a "Sandy" codename under the mistaken belief that the gull-wing configuration of the Ka-14 had gone into production, but no Sandy was ever spotted, for the simple reason that it did not exist. The last A5M4s were rolled out in early 1940, but a little over a hundred tandem seat trainer versions with the designation "A5M4-K" were built into 1943. Almost 1,100 A5Ms of all versions were built. The tandem-seat trainers and such A5M single-seaters as survived spent most of the Pacific War serving in the advanced fighter trainer role, with some used as "Kamikaze (Wind Of The Gods)" suicide-attack in defense of the Japanese home islands late in the war.

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