” The 7-shi carrier-based fighter is an aircraft prototype produced by Mitsubishi based on the specifications ordered by the Navy in 1932 (Showa 7). The chief design engineer was Jiro Horikoshi, who later designed the Zero Fighter. The 7-shi carrier-based fighter was a groundbreaking design for its time as a low-wing monoplane fighter made of metal. In an era when there were no duralumin extruded molded materials, Jiro Horikoshi's pursuit of Designing an airframe that would ride the wind may have resulted in a fan-like shape with a large wing area.
As a result of the design, this fighter became a dull aircraft and did not reach sufficient performance and was rejected, but it was an epoch-making aircraft that took the first step toward the Type 96 carrier-based fighter and the Type Zero carrier-based fighter designed by him at a later date. Director Hayao Miyazaki depicts 7-shi carrier-based fighters in the anime "The Wind Rises", it seems that the real thing was a rigged aircraft with rivets.
Pictured with this model is a model of the US Navy's Northrop XFT prototype fighter, and both aircraft are very similar in that they are low-wing monoplanes + trousers-type spats. The 7-shi single-seat fighter first flew in February 1933 and the XFT in December of the same year, making it the fastest and most advanced aircraft in the world. An aircraft similar to this one appeared in "Wings of Death" in Episode 145 of the second series of "Lupin III".”
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