Type 89 (7.7 mm)

Description

The Type 89 is the IJN's standard issue machine gun, similar to the Vickers E class machine gun. These guns have a lower rate of fire than other rifle caliber machine guns, have decent ballistics, and have low jamming probability when upgraded. However, the total damage output of these guns is rather low, and you'll have to deal with poor belts and terrible rounds. These guns have one strong side at lower BRs however. Compared to the type 92, the flexible 89 is agreat defensive turret. On planes like the J1N1, Ki-32, and F1M2, these guns wreak havoc due to the sheer number of AP rounds in the belt, which tear through biplanes. These turrets always have at least two guns in the same postion, sometimes even four (J1N1)!

General info

These guns suffer from stock belts, however, no other belt option has too much of a difference. These guns rely less on getting shots in but rather rely on chipping away at the most vital part of the plane. The opponents you will face with these guns are almost always squishy biplanes or early monoplanes. However, early bombers will brush off these bullets easily, you may empty your entire ammo stowage before destroying a single bomber. one excellent tactic is aiming for wings or engines, but most importantly, pilots. You need to remember that at higher BRs, these guns do little, so don't rely on them for ANYTHING when you have cannon rounds.

Available ammunition

Default: T / AP / Ball / AP / IAI / I

Universal: T / AP / IAI / AP

Tracers: T / T/ T/ AP

Stealth: I / AP / AP / AP / IAI

Stealth is a great choice because your enemy wont see you coming, and these guns are always mounted in the nose (Exclude B6N1 Model 11, Ki-32) and are easy to aim. Stealth wont light any fires, but its AP rounds will get to work and sooner or later punch the pilot or snap off a wing.

Comparison with analogues

Not many weapons rival the poor firepower of this gun, but some reserve machine guns like the Mle or MAC 1934 are worse. German rifle calibers will always outperform you and set fires, and the British ones actually are very similar to your guns. The American Brownings jam very quickly, so keep that in mind, as you are still superior to other nations in terms of the Rifle Caliber machine guns.

Here is the type 89 compared to other rifle caliber guns:

MAC 1934: Bad firepower compared to the 89s, but excellent rate of fire

Browning / Swedish Browning: Better firepower, however it is quick to jam

MG 81/17/15: Better firepower, belts, RoF, and performance

SHVaKs: Jam very quickly, poor accuracy

Usage in battles

USAGE: Taking out light fighters and squishy ground targets. One important asset of this gun on the higher BRs is that you can use it to attack ground targets without wasting cannon ammo. (ie. Zeroes)

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Mounted in the nose, unlike British and some German counterparts
• Good Turret Firepower at lower BR
• Good Ammo Count
• Won't Jam too quickly

Cons:

• Low damage output
• Bad Belts
• Wont do anything to bombers
• No incendiary potential

History

The machine gun is recoil-operated, it is a licensed copy of the Vickers Class E machine gun re-chambered to 7.7x58mmSR Type 89 cartridge, it is referred to as the "fixed type". It was used in synchronized applications in fighter cowls and in wing gun applications. It was belt-fed, using a steel link disintegrating belt. The fixed Type 89 was used in the Nakajima Ki-27, Ki-43, early Ki-44 fighters, the Mitsubishi Ki-30 and Ki-51 light bombers, the Kawasaki Ki-32 light bomber and various others. Communist forces used some ex-Japanese Type 89s during the Korean War.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the weapon;
• other literature.