2 planes that have wep and don't in AH

[Vraciu]

Col, this is 909's throttle quadrant placard. You were correct that you never saw a WEP setting
(Image removed from quote.)

As I mentioned, the first one could be apocryphal, i.e. unoriginal.  Then again, so could this one be.  Or both.   Or neither. 

[Ciaphas]

Perhaps only a small set were outfitted with it and the option was deemed impractical and was discontinued as it had no real value to the operation of the aircraft.


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[Chalenge]

I have to ask if that image is from a video game? if not, photographer has mad skills.

[Vraciu]

I have to ask if that image is from a video game? if not, photographer has mad skills.

That was my original reaction. “Hmmmm.  IL-2 graphics?”

[RODBUSTR]

 FLS there is a place on the model 52 dash schematics where it is shown. I good place to reference That is The Great Book of World War Two Airplanes. There is a great foldout 2 page picture of the cockpit of the Model 52.  It looks like there is a place on the AH Zeke where It is supposed to be also.  Top left side near  close to the throttle quadrant....Accuracy?   Also My knowledge of WEP for the Forts comes from books I've read and N.A.C.A. statistics.

[FLS]

I haven't seen anything that indicates the A6M5b should have WEP.

[Krusty]

Most likely our version in-game performs better than many did in WW2 due to fuel issues later on. For what it's worth, when you can barely run 87 octane and your fuels from 1944 onward were thinned out with tree-sap-turpentine, WEPs really a kind of pipe dream.

[RODBUSTR]

 Well look at he book I mentioned and You will.

[Krusty]

You mean "The Great Book of World War Two Airplanes"...? Not to disparage the book, but I think it may not be the best resource on the matter.

Many planes had missing instrument slots or things that were planned but not available. Hell, Japanese zeroes often had no radios to speak of. They still had radio compartments. Soviets hard cardboard radios on their plans and schematics but almost to a plane were thrown out to save weight because they just didn't work.

Do you realize that the A6M3 model 32 had the same engine as the A6M5b model 52? They both ran the same engine, the Sakai 21, and had the same horsepower rating. Different exhaust configurations and other changes improved the overall plane performance, but it had the same engine.

[FLS]

Well look at he book I mentioned and You will.

A later model, the A6M6c, with a different engine, had WEP. The AH3 model is correct.

[Krusty]

Almost no -6cs were made. It's debatable if any ever flew in actual service. The A6M5 series was the last widely produced and used version, though A6M8 production was supposedly ramping up (They skipped the 6 and 7 models, basically).

[RODBUSTR]

 well not according to the  book I mentioned.

[Vraciu]

well not according to the  book I mentioned.

One book of questionable accuracy...

[Krusty]

Rod, you remember that comment I made before? I'll say it again: You're passionate about it, and that's a good thing. You just need to do more research and find better sources for your information before you just accept whatever happens to coincide with what you want the answer to be.

Just because a book is printed doesn't mean it's factual, it's correct, or the author is credible. There are many that are just wrong, present wrong information, or even make up information and/or reprint debunked mistakes because they didn't have a proper research or review process when they made that book. Remember this: The ultimate end-point of writing a book and having it published is to SELL the book. If that means skimping on fact checking and getting things wrong means you get your income checks, maybe that explains some of the very sloppy books on WW2 aviation out there.

[Mister Fork]

A later model, the A6M6c, with a different engine, had WEP. The AH3 model is correct.

+1 on this - Mitsubishi Zero: Japan's Legendary Fighter (book by Peter Charles Smith) confirms this as it went in great lengths to explain the variants and improvements with each model.  Couple of points:
1. The years of service of our A6M5b means it was a pre-WEP model
2. The IJN had issues getting it to work properly until early 1945
3. Ours is a August 1943 variant, and by then, the IJA and IJN were in deep trouble producing anything, let alone developing the performance of their aircraft.  And even then, there were not too many WEP models out there  - if they worked at all.

Page 163: Engine boost system
While the Zero herself had been steadily improved, lack of a really powerful engine continued to restrict just what improvements could be made to the existing airframe, which these additions had now increased by 700lb (3.175 kg) additional weight with the same power plant. Mitsubishi required the Navy air arsenal allow them to fit the more powerful Mitsubishi Kinsei-62 radial to this aircraft, but the request was rejected outright. The Navy's solution was to insist on fitting the existing Sake-21 with a water-methanol injection system to boost its output for short bursts during combat.²¹ However, such was the slow pace of development of this system that the HEI had to go into combat without it. Eventually one trial aircraft appeared late in 1944 fitted with the Sake-31a radial. It was far from successful prototype; the injection system was still in its experimental stage and was plagued with continual problems, while the modified engine generated less power not more. The A6M5c sub-type was built at the Nakajima Koizuma Plant, and attained a maximum speed of 346mph (556.83km/h) but only ninety-three ever appeared before the whole project was cancelled in the increasingly frenetic situation the Navy found itself that winter of the war. Production was complex and still mired by problems, maintenance of the temperamental power plant in the field difficult.
   Work on the water-methanol injection system continued, however, utilizing the Nakajima Sakae-31 engine, which was a fourteen-cylinder, air-cooled radial, which was rated at 1,130hp (831.11kW) for take-off, (1,100hp (809kW)at 9,350ft (2,850m) and 980hp (720.79kW) at 19,685ft (6,000m).