Type 89 (7.7 mm)

This page is about the Type 89 (7.7 mm). For equipment of the same adoption year, see Type 89 (Disambiguation).

Description

The Type 89s are common on lower tier biplanes like the Ki-10-II C

The Type 89 is the IJA's standard issue machine gun, similar to the Vickers E machine gun. Note that the Type 89 is indistinguishable from the IJN's Type 97, so you can expect the same belts and performance from the two. These guns have a lower rate of fire than other rifle-calibre 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 a great defensive turret. On planes like the Ki-32 and F1M2, these guns wreak havoc due to the sheer number of AP rounds in the belt, which tear through biplanes.

General info

The Type 89s can shred through other enemy biplanes pretty well

Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.

Available ammunition

Aircraft

• Default: T · AP · IAI · AP · 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 won't see you coming, and these guns are always mounted in the nose (except on the B6N1 Model 11 and Ki-32) and are easy to aim. Stealth won't often light fires, but its AP rounds will get to work and sooner or later hit the pilot or snap off a wing.

• Default (turret): T · IAI · Ball · AP · AP · I
• Armoured targets (turret): T · AP · AP · AP
• AP-T (turret): T · AP

Naval vessels

• Universal: AP · T · AP · T · AP · T · AP · T
• 7.7 mm AP belt: AP · AP · AP · T · AP · AP · AP · T
• 7.7 mm API belt: IT · IT · IT · AP · IT · IT · IT · AP

Comparison with analogues

Not many weapons rival the poor firepower of this gun, but some reserve machine guns like the Mle 33 or MAC 1934 are worse. German rifle-calibres will always outperform it and often set fires, while British machine guns are very similar in performance. The American Browning jams very quickly, so keep that in mind, as you are still superior to other nations in terms of the rifle-calibre machine 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 15/17/81: Better firepower, belts, rate of fire, and performance
• ShKAS: Jam very quickly, poor accuracy

Usage in battles

The Ki-21-Ia has a double 89 turret configuration

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 on chipping away at the most vital parts of the plane. The opponents you will face with these guns are almost always unarmoured 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 the 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 cannons available to use, though they can be used to knock out ground targets while saving your precious cannon ammunition.

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 Imperial Japanese Army Air Service had the Type 89 as a designation for two aircraft machine guns, a fixed model (detailed here) and a flexible mount (Type 89 'special' (7.7 mm)) that were two very different guns with different origins. The fixed Type 89 is a Japanese copy of the Vickers Class E which was an airborne version of a World War I-era machine gun converted to be air-cooled. It was positioned in the wings of fighters or in engine cowlings where it was synchronized with the propeller. Preserved examples of the fixed Type 89 show that it was used in ground vehicles along with aircraft, notably the Type 97 Te-Ke tankette. The machine gun was also used on the Ki-27 "Nate", Ki-43 Hayabusa, and Ki-44-I Shoki fighters along with the Mitsubishi Ki-30 "Ann" light bomber, Ki-51 "Sonia" dive bomber, and the Ki-32 "Mary" light bomber. After World War II, some Type 89 fixed guns saw use by Communist forces 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

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

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

Naval machine guns
USA
7.62 mm	M73
12.7 mm	AN-M2
Germany
7.62 mm	MG-3
7.92 mm	MG08 pattern 1908 · MG15 · MG34
13.2 mm	Hotchkiss
15 mm	MG M38(t)
USSR
7.62 mm	Maxim
12.7 mm	DShK
14.5 mm	KPV
Britain
7.62 mm	FN MAG
7.7 mm	Lewis 1916 · Vickers GO No.5
12.7 mm	Vickers Mk.V
Japan
6.5 mm	Maxim · Type 38 pattern 1907
7.7 mm	Type 89 · Type 92
13.2 mm	Type 93
Italy
6.5 mm	Breda Mod.30 · Fiat Model 26
12.7 mm	Breda-SAFAT
13.2 mm	Breda Model 31
France
13.2 mm	Browning · Model 1929 Hotchkiss