# Japanese Fighter Performance



## Zipper730 (Mar 11, 2019)

I'm curious if anybody has some technical and performance data various Japanese fighters, even WWII Aircraft Performance is kind of light on this area. Also, it's all too common to see the most popular variant listed in performance, but not all of them (and the most numerous variant wasn't always in all the decisive battles).

What I'm particularly interested in are the following

Mitsubishi A5M Claude
How much difference is there in speed between the variants?
Is there any significant difference in engine-power settings, critical-altitudes, or service-ceilings?

Kawasaki Ki-10 Perry
How much difference is there in speed between the variants? 12.5 mph seems a number commonly cited, but I'm not sure if the early models did 236, or 248.5 with the later versions doing 248.5 or 261 mph. Admittedly 261 seems a bit high for a biplane, but the F3F could do around 264 mph.
Is there any significance critical altitudes, or service ceilings between variants?

Nakajima Ki-27 Nate/Abdul
The service ceiling data seems a bit bizarre: 10040 meters was one figure I saw, which comes out to 32940', and the other was around 12150 or 12250 which is in the ball park of 40,000 feet.
Most figures list a top-speed of around 292 mph, though others seem to include around 270 mph: Is this a discrepancy due to variants, power-settings, or other?
Does anything have anything on engine power & critical altitudes with variants?

Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar 
Does anybody have any rate-of-climb and critical altitude figures for the Ki-43-I?
I've heard some discrepancies in climb-rates for the Ki-43-II. Some sources list around 3900 fpm, other data sources seem to indicate around 3600-3750

I know that's a lot of stuff to request, and while I'm at it, I'm also curious if there's any websites that have access to this data. As a general rule I would go to the World War II Aircraft Performance site, but there's very little information available on some of the early variants.


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## GrauGeist (Mar 11, 2019)

This is a good place to find details on IJA and IJN aircraft.

J-aircraft.com Main Page

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## CORSNING (Mar 12, 2019)

Zipper730 said:


> I'm curious if anybody has some technical and performance data various Japanese fighters, even WWII Aircraft Performance is kind of light on this area. Also, it's all too common to see the most popular variant listed in performance, but not all of them (and the most numerous variant wasn't always in all the decisive battles).
> 
> What I'm particularly interested in are the following
> 
> ...


*I have a $100 dollar bill that says they (or I) are working on it.*


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## Graeme (Mar 12, 2019)

CORSNING said:


> *Odd, neither William Greene nor Rene Francillon wish to commit here...??? *



Agreed, it is odd. Some time ago I saw that 40,000 ft figure and tried to establish where it came from. Sources that I have from the late 50's through to the 60's simply state for the Nate's ceiling - "not available" or "not recorded".
Just a theory of mine, but somewhere around the mid 70's Bill (William) Gunston in one of his many encyclopedias said _"not recorded, but about 34,400 ft (10,500 m)"_. Then in 1977 William Green comes up with 40,190 ft in his WW2 Aircraft Fact Files series when in the past he never printed a figure. Authors outdoing each other? Or did Japanese resources become available around this time?


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## taly01 (Mar 12, 2019)

> The service ceiling data seems a bit bizarre: 10040 meters was one figure I saw, which comes out to 32940', and the other was around 12150 or 12250 which is in the ball park of 40,000 feet. Odd,



Generic answer - we are looking at conversions from metres to feet, then confusion as to what the original data was in, then some old fashion errors or misprinted or damaged numbers on pages, in many cases these errors have been repeated numerous times by many authors over the last 70 years!

Actual answer  the Ki-27 has an *extremely* low wing loading which would help it get to high altitude.



> Does anybody have any rate-of-climb and critical altitude figures for the Ki-43-I?



Ki-43-I US TAIC 
2920 fpm/SL
2690 fpm/14500ft

Ki-43-I uses Sakae engine, here is a nice simplified table The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia: Sakae Aircraft Engine. * PRO TIP -* I have noticed almost all planes peak speeds are just above supercharger rated heights (optimisation of engine power vs air density), if any planes given data does not show that its *probably* wrong.



> I've heard some discrepancies in climb-rates for the Ki-43-II. Some sources list around 3900 fpm, other data sources seem to indicate around 3600-3750



Most data for Ki-43-II you'll find is from a test of the early Ki-43-IIa version without armour for pilot, but 3900fpm seems too high for any combat loaded Ki-43.

Ki-43-IIb US TAIC (has pilot armour and leak proofed fuel tanks)
3290 fpm/SL
2850 fpm/17500ft

Ki-43-III US TAIC (has pilot armour and leak proofed fuel tanks)
3430 fpm/SL
2620 fpm/20400ft

The US TAIC are not definitive but in this case I think they are pretty good. Even the US TAIC shows that to outclimb the Ki-43-III at sea level they need 1945 P-38 and P-51 with the super boosted engines!

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## Micdrow (Mar 13, 2019)

There is lots of info on this stuff just got to dig through the threads and download the pdfs. Just a few links posted on this web site.

Japanese Aircraft Performance
TAIC Summary Reports Japanese Aircraft
TAIC 1 Report Japanese Aircraft


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## CORSNING (Mar 13, 2019)

Great information taly01. Is there anyway to get the full TAIC reports
on the Ki.43-I and Ki.43-III?
Very excited, Jeff


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## Micdrow (Mar 13, 2019)

Want to learn Japanese part of the manual on the Ki-43

Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar Type 1 Fighter


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## Micdrow (Mar 13, 2019)

This page will give you direct links to a multitude of Japanese aircraft manuals. Warning all in Japanese. Though some have nice pictures and others not so much

Manual Index - Japan


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## taly01 (Mar 15, 2019)

> Great information taly01. Is there anyway to get the full TAIC reports on the Ki.43-I and Ki.43-III?



I've only found the summary graphs or data pages for them,

The Ki-43-I was in [email protected] - 1943 Air Information Summary 12

Ki-43-III is in TAIC Manual No.2, 3rd Edition, June 1945.



> Even the US TAIC (1945) shows that to outclimb the Ki-43-III at sea level they need 1945 P-38 and P-51 with the super boosted engines!


Ooops I forget to look at USN planes, have to add Wildcat FM-2  (better than Hellcat -5 and Corsair F4U-4 at sea level)

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## Zipper730 (Mar 22, 2019)

GrauGeist said:


> This is a good place to find details on IJA and IJN aircraft.
> 
> J-aircraft.com Main Page


It appears they don't plan to approve my membership request (I haven't gotten anything back)


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