Kikka Kai

[Edit] Kikka Kai Orange Blossom Kai No.200 橘花改
Jet-powered Fighter-Bomber Effects: +11 +12 +1 Long Combat Radius: 2 (Deployment Cost: 13) Scrap value: 6 4 10 14 (Unbuildable)
Card Fairy Equipment Combination
Refittable Class
Coastal Defense Ship	Destroyer
Light Cruiser	Torpedo Cruiser
Heavy Cruiser	Training Cruiser
Aviation Cruiser	Fast Battleship
Battleship	Aviation Battleship
Light Carrier	Standard Aircraft Carrier
Armored Carrier	Seaplane Tender
Submarine	Aircraft Carrying Submarine
Submarine Tender	Fleet Oiler
Repair Ship	Amphibious Assault Ship

Introduction

潜水艦派遣作戦によりもたらされた海外で実用化されたターボジェット戦闘機の一部の設計図などを参考に開発された国産ジェット戦闘攻撃機です。本機「橘花改」は、爆装及び機首に30mm機銃を2門装備した戦闘爆撃機型として戦力化を図ります。※基地航空隊及び装甲甲板＆甲板カタパルトを装備する一部正規空母のみ運用可能です。運用時には鋼材を消費します。

This is a domestic jet fighter-bomber developed based on the design drawing of turbojet fighter planes which were brought by submarine dispatch operations and put into service abroad. The Kikka Kai is equipped with bombs and two 30mm cannons on the nose to serve in its fighter-bomber role.

Notes

Unbuildable

• Quest F46 reward; completion requires two New Technology Aircraft Blueprints and a Ne Type Engine.

Characteristic of Jets

• Can only be used on:
  • Standard Carriers with an armored flight deck and catapult, such as Shoukaku Kai Ni A and Zuikaku Kai Ni A (but not Saratoga Mk.II Mod.2 or Taihou)
  • 'Go' remodels of Standard Carriers (i.e. Kaga Kai Ni Go)
  • Land Base Aerial Support.
• When used on Carriers, an additional Jet Assault phase will commence before every aerial combat phase. When used in Land Base Aerial Support, an additional Jet Assault phase will commence before every Land Base Aerial Support sortie.
• Unlike regular aircraft, jets consume steel in every battle whenever Jet Assault phase takes place, even if no planes are lost.
  • Steel consumption cost per battle is 0.2 × no. of plane when battle start × LBAS deployment cost (rounded off to integer).
  • The steel reduction takes place during the sortie, so there is no visual indication within the game to remind players that such reduction has taken place. The expense in steel can only be seen when comparing pre-sortie steel levels with post-sortie levels.
  • Steel is only consumed when Jet Assault is initiated. In situations where the Jet Assault phase does not activate, such as anti-submarine-only battle, air raid battle and night battle nodes, steel will not be consumed.
• Jet-powered fighter-bombers are treated as dive bombers, therefore aircraft carriers equipped with jet bombers cannot attack Installations during the shelling phase. However, they can still target Installations during the Aerial Combat phase.
• Jet-powered fighter-bombers do not count towards triggering aircraft carrier cut-in (CVCI).

Trivia

One of Japan's secret weapons, the Kikka was a jet-powered aircraft that was made after Japanese military advisors witnessed the German Me 262 aviation trials of 1944, thinking that such a fast plane would be the perfect counter to the B-29 wreaking havoc across Japan. Germany agreed to send blueprints and a Me 262 through submarine transport after the request was put forth but were captured after German surrender. The only leads now were pictures and a sketch of a BMW 003 jet engine from a previous expedition and using the failed Ne-10 engine from a previous attempt at jet propulsion as a base. Going only by memory, Nakajima engineers started recreating the Me 262 air frame and jet engine but with the further limitation of being easy enough to be mass produced by largely unskilled labor. Although difficult, the new engine was completed and named Ne-20 in mid-1945 as a testament to Japanese ingenuity and cleverness. The prototype was tested on August 7th with no major problems but its second test ended in a crash due to the rocket assist takeoff not angled properly. Development stopped 7 days later with Japanese surrender.

Compared to the Me 262, it was significantly smaller, carried a smaller bomb load, less cannons, slower and less jet engine thrust but had folding wings to hide in caves and tunnels. Despite this, it was still a formidable interceptor and fighter-bomber with a good potential to catch the US bombing raids by surprise as the project was completely unknown to the USN until after the war ended. It is theorized that the Kikka would have been used as a Kamikaze aircraft because of it having no official classification but the high cost of producing a jet engine would have been very inefficient and unlikely since the Ohka rocket was in production at the same time while being much cheaper and use of obsolete planes costed nothing.

• The Kikka is often identified as the Nakajima J9N1, or occasionally J9Y, which according to a researcher at the National Air and Space Museum is incorrect (the discussion is registered in this talk page).
• It was also called Koukoku Nigou Heiki (皇国二号兵器 "Imperial Weapon No.2"). The Kikka Kai was a modified version of the design to be launched from a 200 m long catapult, officially known as "Nakajima Kikka-kai Prototype Turbojet Special Attacker"

• The 74th Naval Air Group was supposed to be given these aircraft.
• Even though Taihou is an Armored Aircraft Carrier and had a flight deck of 257 m long, the Shoukaku Kai Ni A-class are provided with a Prototype Flight Deck Catapult, which might allow them to operate the Kikka Kai and other jet aircraft in-game.

See also

• Nakajima Kikka
• 橘花 (航空機) (Wikipedia - Japanese page)