Please note that the photo used to illustrate Japanese Unit # 372 is incorrect; the picture used shows the second version, the N1K2 which has been correctly used for Unit 376.
The N1K1 had the wings mounted much higher on the fuselage, betraying the aircraft's float plane ancestry, so that the long undercarriage legs needed to clear the huge propellor from striking the ground tended to buckle, snap or not function properly. The N1K2 had the wing repositioned at the bottom of the fuselage.
I attach a link to a not ideal photo, cluttered up by ground crew:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawani...ations_(N1K1-J)
Sources:
René J Francillon, Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Putnam, London, 1979 edn.
Tony Homes, Hellcat vs Shiden / Shiden-Kai; Duel # 91, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, 2019
Yasuho Izawa & Tony Holmes, J2M Raiden and N1K1/2 Shiden / Shiden-Kai Aces, Osprey Aircraft of the Aces # 129, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, 2016
David Mondey, The Concise Guide to Axis Aircraft of World War II, Chancellor Press, London, 1996
Henry Sakaida, Imperial Japanese Navy Aces 1937-45. Osprey Aircraft of the Aces # 22, Osprey Publishing, London, 1998
Terry C. Treadwell, The Setting of the Rising Sun: Japanese Military Aviation 1877-1945, Amberley Publishing, Stroud, 2010
Kawanishi N1K1 photo
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