Type 89 machine gun

The Type 89 designation covers two distinct and unrelated Japanese aircraft machine guns used by the Empire of Japan from 1929 onward. The fixed type was a recoil operated gun based on the Vickers Class E design, chambered in 7.7x58mm ammunition and synchronized to fire through a fighter propeller arc, while the flexible type used a gas operated mechanism built from a pair of modified Type 11 light machine guns mounted together as a defensive weapon for bomber crews. Both versions served through the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Second World War, and some examples were later encountered during the Korean War.