This first image in this post is photoshopped.
This is a Japanese aircraft that never flew in our time line. It is based on the Plan VIII reconnaissance aircraft designed by the Rikugun Kokugijutsu Kenkūjo in 1941 and finalised by 1943/4. An example is depicted here as it might be after capture by American forces.
As can be seen from the drawings, Plan VIII was a four engine designs meant to use Ha-211 Ru engines. It must be noted that the aircraft seems too small for the planned four engines. It’s possible that the correct dimensions of the design have not been found or that different engines were planned and this version has Mitsubishi Ha-53 engines. The Ha-53 was a 28-cylinder supercharged four-row, seven-bank, radial that was designed, but never built.
Works consulted include: All the Experimental Aircraft in Japanese Army by Minoru Akimoto; Japanese Secret Projects Volume 1 by Edwin M. Dyer III, Illustrated Warplane History Number 8: The X-Planes of Imperial Japanese Army and Navy by Nohara Shigeru, Japanese Aero Engines 1910 to 1945 by Mike Godwin and Peter Starkings, 陸海軍試作戦闘機 (1) 太平洋戦史シリーズ (Army and Navy prototype fighter Part 1: Pacific War History Series, Gakken 31) and 三菱航空エンジン史―大正六年より終戦まで 1915‐1945 (History of Mitsubishi Aero Engines 1915 to 1945) by Matsuoka Hisamitsu and Nakanishi Masayoshi.
The finished versions of both the IJA Air Arm and Ejercito del Aire Appendices are now up at the Drake’s Drum website. The new book covers the period 1948-2015 and I hope to post pictures of ships and aircraft from that period in the coming weeks.
