let's rate what military technology japan kicked butt in!!

[tom d. friedman]

let's rate what japanese technology kicked butt in during ww 2 & set the standards. most of us know what germany excelled in, but japan is most ignored in all areas. the allies gleaned much information in my below mentioned categories that are still in use today. my ratings in order are as follows......

1. fuel economy re: aircraft / ship / general transportation
2. submarine & torpedo technology
3. flying boat / hydro technology
4. discovered the atmospheric "jet stream"
5. bio & germ wafare

[the330thbg]

I had read somewhere that Japan was working on a Torpedoe that used O2 as fuel. This way when it moved through the water there were no air bubbles to see its 'tail'. So there would be no sign in the water that a torpedo was heading for your vessel! Pretty cool!

Last edited by the330thbg on Mon Jan 24, 2011 3:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[k5083]

Optics. The predecessors of companies later known as Nikon, Minolta, Olympus and Pentax existed prior to World War II, and during the war produced military optics of the highest quality, including binoculars, camera optics, and sights for various weapons. This gear contributed to unexpected Japanese accuracy in naval artillery and aerial bombing. I have read, though not from very authoritative sources, that the larger American binoculars during the war were copied directly from captured Japanese ones. Beyond doubt, the development of optical technology in Japan before and during the war helped set the stage for the Japanese takeover of dominance in worldwide consumer optics (e.g. cameras) from the Germans and Americans in the 1960s.

August

[bdk]

I had read somewhere that Japan was working on a Torpedoe that used O2 as a fuel. This way when it moved through the water there were no air bubbles to see its 'tail'. So there would be no sign in the water that a torpedo was heading for your vessel! Pretty cool!

Oxygen is not a fuel, it acts as an oxidizer in a combustion process.

How does it's use avoid bubbles?

[the330thbg]

I had read somewhere that Japan was working on a Torpedoe that used O2 as a fuel. This way when it moved through the water there were no air bubbles to see its 'tail'. So there would be no sign in the water that a torpedo was heading for your vessel! Pretty cool!

Oxygen is not a fuel, it acts as an oxidizer in a combustion process.

How does it's use avoid bubbles?

IJN torpedo research and development focused on using highly-compressed oxygen instead of compressed air (which is about 21% oxygen) as the torpedo's fuel oxidizer in its propulsion system, feeding this into an otherwise normal wet-heater engine burning a fuel such as methanol or ethanol. Pure oxygen provides five times as much oxidizer in the same tank volume, increasing speed and range, and the absence of inert nitrogen reduced the gases emitted to carbon dioxide, which has significant solubility in water, and water vapor, much reducing the tell-tale bubble trail. However, like all torpedoes, when fired at night it produces an unavoidable wake of bioluminescence in the ocean

[JDK]

Optics. The predecessors of companies later known as Nikon, Minolta, Olympus and Pentax existed prior to World War II, and during the war produced military optics of the highest quality, including binoculars, camera optics, and sights for various weapons. This gear contributed to unexpected Japanese accuracy in naval artillery and aerial bombing. I have read, though not from very authoritative sources, that the larger American binoculars during the war were copied directly from captured Japanese ones. Beyond doubt, the development of optical technology in Japan before and during the war helped set the stage for the Japanese takeover of dominance in worldwide consumer optics (e.g. cameras) from the Germans and Americans in the 1960s.

Why do I feel there's a dreadful joke somewhere here about how the pre-war view of the Japanese all needing glasses comes back to bite the west with the quality of the Japanese optician's work?

More seriously, does anyone have anything useful - primary source, data analysis level - on Japanese bombsights?

Regards,

[agent86]

OK, its obvious that you all have missed the technology that Japan had and everybody else was lacking in. They led the world in guided missles. The computer and autopilot systems that they had at the time were second to none and still quite advanced to this day.They didnt cost much either. Cruise missle,Tomahawk,Ohka,A6m,Val,smart bomb.all very deadly and scary!