MikroMir 1/72 Mitsubishi J4M Senden w/Sakae Thermojet Engine (72-024)

The Mitsubishi J4M Senden was a Japanese Navy interceptor project of the Second World War, remarkable for its proposed powerplant — the Nakajima Sakae engine modified to operate as a thermojet, an early form of jet propulsion that used a piston engine to compress air before combustion rather than a conventional turbine. Designed to counter the high-altitude B-29 Superfortress raids that were devastating Japanese cities by 1944–45, the J4M was intended to reach altitudes and speeds that conventional piston fighters could not sustain. Like most late-war Japanese interceptor projects, the Senden never progressed beyond the design stage as Japan's industrial capacity collapsed under Allied bombing and naval blockade. MikroMir's 1/72 kit gives modellers access to one of aviation history's most intriguing might-have-beens.

Japan's jet-age interceptor that never was — the J4M Senden and its revolutionary thermojet engine.