Maybe some type of container, flare, incendiary or other type of “special bomb” which often has non regular mass
I see. So looks like it shouldn’t has 2 250kg bombs (if another sources won’t be found)
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Report done with what we have. Still we should try to figure more details about those two HE rounds used by Ho-203 and Ho-204. They are close to the same weight. It’s obvious the first one has much larger HE filler, while the latter has far more incendiary mixture in it.
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/PluDQsRYVBYb
“Ordnance Technical Intelligence Report Number 19” lists an Incendiary round only for Ho-204, so I guess that must have been developed later. Should we go with the higher HE filler?
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Here is the cover page.
Spoiler
The cover of the industry journal.
The specifications table for the ammunition was published in an article contributed to an industry journal by a technical officer of the Japanese Army.
Former Director of the 1st Army Technical Research Institute, Retired Major General Koshirō Kuwata, “Overview of Gun and Ammunition Design and Ballistics (8), Reference for Ammunition Design Part 4”
元第一陸軍技術研究所所長 桑田小四郎少将『銃砲と弾薬の設計の概要および弾道(8) 弾薬設計の参考 その4』
@skultew1234, could you please add my source to the existing bug report on the Ho-401 ammo?
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There goes Ho-203 and Ho-204 AP round report as well. Just say if I missed some good source or something important.
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/N4YZBGaji4kP
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Of course.
According to this pages, other rounds should be different? For example Ho-155 ammo now has 30mm HE from Type 5 but here is written 22.5g of HE filler
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I noticed the 37mm fire rates are also wrong. Think I’ll report them tomorrow.
Ho-203 now does 300rpm, while sources state 100-140rpm. How did it get this far off?
Ho-204 does 360rpm, but should do 400rpm. I guess some source might have had 360, cause it’s not that far.
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That makes perfect sense.
Ho-155 fires much lighter rounds than the Type 5. Its overall performance is lower, with the advantage of it being that it is lighter.
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Yes, but for a heavyer 123g round, i suppose thats the High hardenes 3rd type projectile, while in game is a 119g round (iirc) tho would 4g make a 25m/s difference?
It’s a bit weird that’s the case, since the Ki-45 could carry two 250kg bombs side by side. But it is what it is.
In March 1945, the TAIC estimated and reported the firing rate of the captured Ho-203 to be 300 rpm. However, in a subsequent report in July 1945, they corrected the firing rate to 140 rpm.
Similarly, the TAIC reported that the Ki-45 Kai Otsu was equipped with a 37 mm Type 98 tank gun. I thought this was a mistake by the TAIC, but the Americans strongly insisted in multiple reports that the captured Ki-45 Kai Otsu was equipped with the Type 98 tank gun, which had an improved muzzle velocity compared to the Type 94 tank gun. Comparing this with official documents from the Japanese Army and recently published Japanese books, it appears that the 37 mm Type 98 tank gun is indeed correct, rather than the 37 mm Type 94 tank gun. This has already been reported.
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/fdLrkw2Tx0IN
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I assume the RPM stays the same at… 18 RPM?
According to a Japanese source, in the Ki-45 Kai Otsu, the rear gunner acted as the loader, resulting in a firing rate of only 2 rpm. Similarly, in the Ki-46-II equipped with a tank gun, the pilot had to load while handling the control stick, limiting the firing rate to one shot every three minutes. The development of the Ho-203 autocannon, with a firing rate of approx. 120 rpm, was welcomed by Ki-45 pilots.
In the game, the firing rate is similar to that of the ace Type 95 Ha-Go, so it seems that the rear gunner with the highest loading skill is on the Ki-45 Otsu.
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Somewhere I read that Ki-45 Kai Otsu was very rare. If I remember right, only 20-40 were made and only 1 or 2 squadrons used them. Have you found more about them?
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Potentially, since the muzzle velocities from the document are the following:
~740m/s for a 84.5g shell
~707m/s for a 90g shell
~680m/s for a 123g shell
The AP shells probably used a stronger powder.
The HEFI-T (90g) is 5.5g heavier but 33m/s slower compared to the fuzeless HEI (84.5g)
The 119g figure is actually from an US document but it seems that the AP round was even heavier in reality.
But there’s also this US source, with matching weight:
Spoiler
The first source says 7g of tracer, the other ~2.2g.
Personally I would think that the different AP-T shells varied in the tracer cavity, reducing the weight and bringing the ballistic in line with the explosive shells.
The difference in hardness might have just been a result of reduced steel quality or simplification.
They might have started with a heavy 123g AP-T shell and then later tried to reduce the weight but officially the lighter rounds were not introduced and they instead focused on an HEI-T shell.
This might also explain the stories of the Ho-5s RoF getting lower in the later stages of the war.
I’ve read that due to quality issues they had to lower the RoF, but this might also be the result of just firing less AP rounds and more lighter HE rounds.
Edit: Wait a second, is that 84.5g shell the fuzed or the fuzeless round?
It says it contains 4.25 explosive but I think that was the fuzed round with air compression fuze.
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Ho-203 and Ho-204 fire rate reports done as well. Now I can rest?
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/ekBYNfEamz59
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/tqWOHjQMC4Vi
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Good job :)
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Another five hundred bug reports, please
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Continue please = )
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I submitted a bug report suggesting the addition of practice shells to the Ho-401, in accordance with the aircraft cannon ammunition handling manual issued by the Japanese Army in October 1944.
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/ZD6leTa4soGo
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Damn we really about to nerf the Ki-96?
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