Japanese fighters training Aircrafts

[gekho]

In December of 1941, the Kawanishi engineering team proposed to their management that it might be a good idea to produce a land-based version of the company's N1K1 Kyofu seaplane fighter. Kawanishi management thought enough of the idea that they decided to go ahead with the project as a private venture. Initially, few changes over the N1K1 were planned other than the replacement of the floats with retractable land undercarriage. However it was decided to replace the 14-cylinder Kasei engine with an eighteen-cylinder Nakajima Homare air-cooled radial which, it was hoped, would deliver 2000 hp. To take advantage of the increased power, a new four-bladed propeller with a diameter of 10 feet 10 inches was to be fitted. However, since the original mid-wing configuration of the Kyofu was retained, a very stalky undercarriage was required in order that the prop be able to clear the ground. This in turn required a rather complex scheme of double landing gear retraction, in which the legs contracted as they folded into the wing wells. The aft portion of the fuselage was deepened to give more vertical stabilizing area and included a retractable tailwheel. A unique feature of the N1K1-J was its set of combat flaps. Whereas flap extension was manually controlled on the Kyofu seaplane, the flaps on the landplane version had the ability automatically to change their angle in response to changes in g-forces during manoeuvres. This automatic operation freed up the pilot from having to worry about his flaps during combat, and eliminated the possibility of a stall at an inopportune time. The land based fighter made its maiden flight on December 27, 1942. Since the aircraft was a private venture, it had no military designation, and was known as the Model X-1 experimental land based fighter by the manufacturer. The engine was the 1820 hp Nakajima Homare 11 radial. It was armed with two 7.7 mm Type 97 machine guns in the fuselage and two 20-mm Type 99 Model 2 cannon housed in underwing gondolas. Since the Homare 11 had been accepted for production before the completion of its final tests, it was plagued with teething troubles. The early Homare engine failed to develop its rated power, the propeller torque during takeoff was excessive, and the visibility during taxiing was poor. However the aircraft had pleasant flying characteristics and the automatic combat flaps gave the aircraft exceptional manoeuvrability.

By July of 1943, four prototypes had been built, and one was handed over to the Navy for trials. The performance was disappointing, the maximum speed being only 357 mph (403 mph had been promised). However, it was faster than the Mitsubishi A6M5 Reisen and was more manoeuvrable and longer-ranged than the faster Mitsubishi J2M2 Raiden. By this time, the Japanese Navy was in desperate need of fighters capable of countering the Vought F4U Corsair and the Grumman F6F Hellcat, and gave authorization for Kawanishi to proceed with further development of the land-based version of the Kyofu under the designation N1K1-J Shiden (Violet Lightning) Interceptor Fighter. The J indicated that it was a landplane development of the original N1K1. Further prototypes and service trial aircraft were built during 1943. They were fitted with the more powerful 1990 hp Nakajima NK9H Homare 21 radial. The cowling was modified and featured an additional lower lip scoop. Individual exhaust stacks were fitted, and an external oil cooler was mounted on the port side of the cowling behind and below the cooling gills. Two additional 20-mm Type 99 Model 2 cannon were installed in the wings just outboard of the external underwing cannon gondolas.

Quantity production was ordered by the Navy as the Navy Interceptor Fighter Shiden Model 11. By the end of 1943, 70 aircraft had been built at the Naruo Works, and the first aircraft had been delivered by the Kawanishi plant at Himeji. The N1K1-J entered service with land-based squadrons of the Japanese Navy early in 1944. Armament consisted of 2 7.7-mm machine guns in the fuselage and four 20 mm cannon in the wings (2 in the wing, 2 in underwing gondolas). The first large unit of Shidens to be deployed was the 341st Kokutai (Air Corps), which was transferred to Luzon from Formosa on October 20, 1944. The N1K1-J was first encountered by American forces in combat over Formosa and the Philippines. It was assigned the Allied code name George. It quickly established itself as one of the toughest and most troublesome Japanese fighters yet to be met in combat. It was a truly exceptional combat aircraft in the hands of an experienced pilot. It proved itself superior to most US shipboard fighters that it encountered, and many experienced Shiden pilots regarded the previously-formidable Grumman F6F Hellcat as a particularly easy "kill".

 

[gekho]

The N1K1-J was, however, not without its faults. Operations were plagued by frequent undercarriage malfunctions, the complex double-retraction landing gear causing lots of problems. Aircraft availability was frequently limited by insufficient maintenance crews and by logistics problems. The Homare engine was rather unreliable and was a maintenance headache. The wheel brakes were so bad that most pilots chose to land their Shidens on the grass alongside the runway in order to shorten the landing run. The N1K1-Ja Model 11A differed from the Model 11 in having all four of its 20-mm cannon inside the wing, and it dispensed with the fuselage-mounted machine guns. The N1K1-Jb Model 11B had four improved 20-mm cannon in the wing, was fitted with two underwing racks for bombs of up to 550 pounds in weight, and late production N1K1-Jb fighters had completely redesigned, square-tipped vertical tail surfaces. The N1K1-Jc Shiden Model 11C was a specialized fighter-bomber version similar to the Model 11B but with four underwing bomb racks. At least one N1K1-J used in the Philippines was captured by US forces. It was repaired and tested by American Technical Air Intelligence Unit pilots at Clark Air Base. The respect that American pilots had for the airplane was found to be fully justifiable. Following the fall of the Philippines to US forces, the Shiden was met in large numbers during the invasion of Okinawa. A Japanese military communique reported an engagement in which a unit of 34 Shidens met a force of 70 Allied fighters, destroying 20 of them against a loss of only twelve of their number. Shidens also equipped the 343rd Kokutai the First Air Fleet based at Tinian, and were later based at Shikoku in Japan in defense of the home islands during the spring of 1945.

Late in 1944, a Shiden was modified as the N1K1-J-Kai with a supplementary rocket unit to increase power for short periods. The rear portion of the fuselage was modified to house a rocket motor. Several aircraft received this modification, but the conversion never achieved operational status. The Shiden Special Attack aircraft was a variant capable of carrying out suicide attacks. In early 1945, four Shiden 11s were modified for this mission, but were never expended. A total of 9 prototype and 520 N1K1-J production aircraft were built by the Naruo plant, and 468 N1K1-J production aircraft were built by the Himeji plant. This brought total production of the Shiden to 1007 examples, including prototypes. Production of the N1K1-J was phased out at the Narou plant in December 1944 in favour of the improved N1K2-J. Production of the N1K1-J at the Himjei plant was halted by the damage caused by B-29 raids.

Although the N1K1-J was an outstanding fighter, it did have some serious defects. Its Homare 21 engine was notoriously unreliable, and the complex doubly-retracting landing gear was subject to frequent failures. Even before the N1J1-J entered production, work had already begun at Kawanishi on correcting some of its more glaring defects, in particular its long and complex landing gear. The result of these changes was the Shiden-Kai (Violet Lightning--Modified). Given the designation N1K2-J, the aircraft was completely redesigned so as to use fewer components in order to simplify its construction. More non-critical materials were to be used. Another step towards simplification involved the use of pre-formed sheet construction. Perhaps the most easily-noted innovation was the use of a low-mounted wing in place of the original mid-mounted wing. This permitted a shorter set of landing gear legs to be used, and the complex double-retraction system which had caused so many problems could be eliminated. In addition, the fuselage was lengthened and the tail surfaces were redesigned. The result was a virtually new aircraft, although the unreliable 1990 hp Homare 21 engine of the N1K1-J was retained. Armament was four 20-mm cannon, all mounted internally to the wing.

The first N1K2-J prototype took off on its maiden flight on December 31, 1943. It was handed over to the Japanese Navy for trials in April of 1944. Although the Homare 21 engine was still mechanically unreliable, the Navy liked the aircraft so much that they authorized quantity production of the N1K2-J to be its standard land-based fighter and fighter-bomber even before the service trials were completed. Production aircraft were designated Navy Interceptor Fighter Shiden Kai (Violet Lightning Modified) Model 21. In addition to the Kawanishi plant at Naruo, the Shiden Kai was ordered into production at the Himeji works of Kawanishi. Shiden Kai fighter aircraft were also ordered into production from the Dai-Nana Kokuki Seisakusho (7th Airframe Works) of the Mitsubishi Jukogyo K. K. at Tsurashima, from the Aichi Kokuki K. K. at Eitoku, from the Showa Hikoki K. K. at Shinonoi, and from the Naval Air Arsenals at Hiro, Omura, and Koza. A further seven prototypes had been completed by June of 1944, However, the prototypes began to experience a long series of teething troubles, which proved difficult to correct. The Shiden-Kai program began to slip its schedules, and by the autumn of 1944 the N1K2-J production lines were beginning to experience shortages of vital components due to B-29 attacks against the factories of Kawanishi's subcontractors. By the end of 1944, only 60 Shiden Kais had been delivered by the Naruo factory, and production at Himeji did not begin until March of 1945. The other manufacturers in the Shiden Kai pool were never able to produce more than a handful of aircraft.

The Shiden Kai was to become perhaps the best all-round fighter to be operational in the Pacific theatre. It was fast, powerful, and maneuverable, and was well-armed and armoured. In the hands of an experienced pilot, the Shiden-Kai was the equal of any Allied fighter, even the later models of the P-51 Mustang which began to appear over Japan in the spring of 1945. In one notable action, on February 16 1945 over Yokohama, Warrant Officer Kinsuke Muto of the 343rd Kokutai in an N1K2-J single-handedly battled a dozen F6F Hellcats. He shot down four of them before the rest were forced to break off combat and return to their carrier. However, against the B-29, the N1K2-J was less successful, since its climbing speed was insufficient and the power of the Homare 21 engine fell off rather rapidly at higher altitudes.

A two-seat trainer version, the N1K2-K Shiden Kai Rensen (Violet Lightning Modified Fighter Trainer) was planned, but only a few examples were produced by fitting a second seat behind the pilot's seat of some existing N1K2-J airframes. The Shiden Kai had its centre of gravity too far aft, and to correct this problem the N1K3-J Shiden Kai 1 Model 31 was built, which had the Homare 21 engine moved forward six inches. This freed up enough space to permit two 13.2-mm machine guns to be fitted in the engine cowling. Two prototypes were built at Himeji, but this model was never put into production. The N1K3-A Shiden Kai 2 Model 41 was a carrier-based variant of the N1K3-J. It too was never put into production. In an attempt to overcome some of the operational problems caused by the still unreliable Homare 21, the N1K4-J Shiden Kai 3 Model 32 and its carrier-borne variant the N1K4-A Shiden Kai 4 Model 42 were developed. These were powered by the 2000 hp NK9H-S Homare 23 fuel-injected radial. Two prototypes of the N1K4-J and one of the N1K4-A were built in the spring of 1945 at Naruo. The carrier-based aircraft was accepted for production as the Shiden 41, but was later abandoned since by that time Japan's carrier forces had been completely destroyed.

One of the weaknesses of the Shiden Kai was its rather lacklustre high-altitude performance. It had proven to be ineffective against the B-29 owing to its poor climbing ability. In search of better high-altitude performance, the N1K5-J Shiden Kai 5 Model 25 was planned, powered by a 2200-hp Mitsubishi MK9A eighteen-cylinder air-cooled radial. However, the sole prototype of the N1K5-J was destroyed prior to completion during a B-29 raid in June of 1945. Another high-altitude interceptor version of the Shiden Kai was to be based on a Homare 44 engine equipped with a three-speed mechanical supercharger. The end of the Pacific War brought an end to all these projects. Only 415 production examples of the outstanding N1K2-J fighter were built, owing primarily to construction snags and delays resulting from the continuous B-29 raids on the Japanese homeland in the last year of the war. With the exception of Kawanishi's Naruo and Himeji plants, the other companies involved in the production pool were late in getting started and delivered only a token number of machines before the war ended. It is fortunate for the Allies that this outstanding aircraft was not available in greater quantity.

 

[Gnomey]

Good stuff!

 

[Wayne Little]

Cool!

 

[gekho]

With its relatively low-powered radial engine, two-blade propeller and twin rifle-calibre machine-gun armament, the Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (peregrine falcon) was the most dangerously underestimated Japanese fighter of the early months of the Pacific war; yet, with its outstanding manoeuvrability, it gained complete mastery over Brewster Buffalos and Hawker Hurricanes in Burma. It was the result of a 1937 design which emerged as a light- weight fighter-bomber that required no more than its 709kW to meet its speed demands. In common with other Japanese fighters of the time, however, its armament was puny by RAF standards, and it possessed neither armour nor self-sealing fuel tanks. As the Allied air forces pulled themselves together after the first shock of defeat, the Ki-43-I's weaknesses were discovered and increasing losses suffered, resulting in the introduction of the Ki-43-II (codenamed 'Oscar' by the Allies), with pilot armour, rudimentary self-sealing fuel tanks and reflector gunsight; the engine was also changed to the 858kW Nakajima Ha-115 radial which increased the top speed to 530km/h, roughly the same as that of the Hurricane Mk II. The Ki-43-IIb entered mass production in November 1942, first with Nakajima and six months later with Tachikawa. Final variant was the Ki-43-III with 917kW engine and a top speed of 576km/h, but relatively few examples reached operational units. The Ki-43 was numerically the most important of all Japanese army air force aircraft, production totalling 5,886, plus 33 prototypes and trials aircraft.

 

[gekho]

Of similar general configuration to the Ki-43, the Nakajima Ki-44 prototypes incorporated the manoeuvring flaps that had been introduced on that aircraft, and carried an armament of two 7.7mm and two 12.7mm machine-guns. First flown in August 1940, the Ki-44 was involved in a series of comparative trials against Kawasaki's Ki-60 prototype, based on use of the Daimler-Benz DB 601 engine, and an imported Messerschmitt Bf 109E. The result of this evaluation, and extensive service trials, showed the Ki-44 to be good enough to enter production, and it was ordered under the designation Army Type 2 Singleseat Fighter Model 1A Shoki (demon), company designation Ki-44-Ia, which carried the same armament as the prototypes. A total of only 40 Ki-44-I aircraft was produced, including small numbers of the Ki-44-Ib armed with four 12.7mm machine-guns, and the similar KI-44-Ic with some minor refinements.

When introduced into service the high landing speeds and limited manoeuvrability of the Shoki made it unpopular with pilots, and very soon the Ki-44-II with a more powerful Nakajima Ha-109 engine was put into production. Only small numbers of the Ki- 44-IIa were built, the variant being followed by the major production Ki-44- Ilb. The Ki-44-IIc introduced much heavier armament, comprising four 20mm cannon or, alternatively, two 12.7mm machine-guns and two 40mm cannon, and these proved to be very effective when deployed against Allied heavy bombers attacking Japan. Final production version was the Ki-44- III with a 1491kW Nakajima Ha-145 radial engine, an increase m wing area and enlarged vertical tail surfaces. Nakajima had built a total of 1,225 Ki-44s of all versions, including prototypes, and these were allocated the Allied codename 'Tojo'. They were deployed primarily in Japan, but were used also to provide an effective force of interceptors to protect vital targets, as in Sumatra where they defended the oil fields at Palembang.

 

[Wayne Little]

Keep 'em coming!

 

[rochie]

great pictures, need to get a Ki43 and a Ki44 for my stash of kits

 

[Gnomey]

Good stuff!

 

[gekho]

The Ki-54 was developed in response to an Imperial Japanese Army requirement for a twin-engine advanced trainer, principally for crew training. The prototype first flew in summer 1940 and, on completing trials, entered production in 1941 as Army Type 1 Advanced Trainer Model A (Ki-54a). The Ki-54a was soon followed by the Ki-54b as Army Type 1 Operations Trainer Model B and Ki-54c as Army Type 1 Transport Model C. Named Hickory by the Allies, the Ki-54b and -c enjoyed successful careers until the end of the war.

 

[gekho]

In response to the rapid emergence in Europe of twin-engine heavy fighters such as the Messerschmitt Bf 110, the army ordered development of a twin-engine, two-seat fighter in 1937, and assigned the proposal by Kawasaki Shipbuilding the designation of Ki-38. This only went as far as a mock up, but by December of that year, the army ordered a working prototype as the Ki-45, which first flew in January 1939. Results from the test flights, however, did not meet the army's expectations. The Ha-20 Otsu engine was underpowered and failure-prone, while the airframe suffered from nacelle stall. The Ki-45 did not enter use, but the army, insistent on having a working twin-engine fighter, ordered Kawasaki to continue development. Kawasaki responded by replacing the engines with the proven Nakajima Ha-25. Flight tests were promising. In October 1940, the army ordered continued improvements such as switching to 805 kW (1,080 hp) Mitsubishi Ha-102 engines. This craft, designated Ki-45 Kai, was complete in September 1941 and was officially adopted for use by the army in February 1942 as the "Type 2 Two-Seat Fighter".

 

[gekho]

The Ki-45 was initially used as a long-range bomber escort. The 84th Independent Flight Wing (Dokuritsu Hikō Chutai) used them in June 1942 in attacks on Guilin, where they encountered, but were no match for Curtiss P-40s flown by the Flying Tigers. In September of the same year, they met P-40s over Hanoi with similar results. It became clear that the Ki-45 could not hold its own against single-engine fighters in aerial combat. It was subsequently deployed in several theaters in the roles of interception, ground, ship attack and fleet defense. Its greatest strength turned out to be as an anti-bomber interceptor, as was the case of the Bf 110 in Europe. In New Guinea, the JAAF used the aircraft in an anti-ship role, where the Ki-45 was heavily armed with one 37 mm (1.46 in) and two 20 mm cannons and could carry two 250 kg (550 lb) bombs on hard points under the wings. 1,675 Ki-45s of all versions were produced during the war. The first production type (Ko) was armed with two 12.7 mm (.50 in) machine gun in the nose, a single 20 mm cannon in the belly, and a trainable 7.92 mm (.312 in) machine gun in the rear cabin, and this was followed with the Otsu with the lower 20 mm cannon replaced by a 37 mm (1.46 in) tank gun, to counter B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. While the firepower was devastating, manual reloading meant that only two rounds could be fired per minute. The next type (Hei) restored the 20 mm cannon, and this time placed an automatic 37 mm (1.46 in) gun in the nose. A later addition was twin obliquely-firing 20 mm cannon behind the cockpit and removal of the underside 20 mm guns.

Soon after entering service, the Ki-45 was assigned to home defense, and several were dispatched against the Doolittle raid, though they did not see action. The craft's heavy armament proved to be effective against the B-29 Superfortress raids which started in June 1944. However, its performance was insufficient to counter B-29s flying at 10,000 m (32,800 ft). Modifications such as reduction of fuel and ordnance were attempted to raise performance to little avail, and in the end aircraft were used effectively in ramming attacks. An example of a ramming attack was the kamikaze attack on USS Dickerson on 2 April 1945 off Okinawa. The commanding officer and 54 crew were killed when a Toryu clipped the stacks from astern, and rammed the bridge. A second Toryu hit the foredeck, opening a 7 m (23 ft) hole in the deck. The ensuing fires demolished the ship, and after the surviving crew was rescued by fellow fast transports and ex-destroyers Bunch and Herbert, the ship was towed out to sea and scuttled. In 1945, the forward and upward-firing guns showed some results with the commencement of night time bombing raids, but the lack of radar was a considerable handicap. By the spring of 1945, the advent of American carrier-based fighters and Iwo Jima-based P-51s escorting B-29s over the skies of Japan brought the Ki-45's career to an end.

The next version, the Kawasaki Ki-45 KAIc, was developed specifically as a night fighter, which were supposed to be equipped with centimetric radar in the nose; due to production difficulties, this did not occur. The aircraft took part in night defense of the Home Islands and equipped four sentais from the autumn of 1944 to the War's end. They obtained notable successes, and one Ki-45 sentai claimed 150 victories and of these claimed eight USAAF B-29 Superfortresses in their first combat. The Ki-45 was to be replaced in the ground-attack role by the Ki-102, but was never wholly supplanted by the wars' end. Three Ki-45s fell into communist Chinese hands after World War II. Unlike most captured Japanese aircraft that were employed in the training role, the three Ki-45s were assigned to the 1st Squadron of the Combat Flying Group in March 1949 and were used in combat missions. These aircraft were retired in the early 1950s.

 

[rochie]

great pictures

 

[Wayne Little]

Ki-45 is a cool looking bird with some cool schemes and markings....

 

[Gnomey]

Interesting stuff!

 

[razor1uk]

A very well put together thread, eagerly awaiting more, certainly a good introduction for developing curiosity for HJIM-A/N aircraft.

 

[gekho]

Sometimes described as a cross between a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and a North American P-51 Mustang, the Kawasaki Ki-61 certainly had the distinctive nose shape associated with an inverted V-12 inline engine, the Kawasaki Ha-40 being in effect a Daimler- Benz DB 601A built under licence. The Ki-61's designers, Takeo Doi and Shin Owada, had moreover worked under the German Richard Vogt, In December 1940 they were instructed to go ahead with the Ki-61, and one year later the prototype was flown. The first production Ki-61-I fighters were deployed operationally in April 1943 when the 68th and 78th Sentais arrived in New Guinea. Named Hien (swallow) in service (and codenamed 'Tony' by the Allies), the new aircraft proved popular with its pilots, being unusually well-armed and armoured, and the type was at least a match for opposing American fighters. Its armament (of four 12.7-mm machine-guns) proved inadequate to knock down enemy bombers, however, and the Ki- 61-I KAIc was introduced with a pair of 20-mm cannon in the nose, these being replaced in a small number of Ki-61- I KAId fighters by two 30-mm cannon. The Ki-61- I and Ki-61-I KAI remained in production until 1945, but in 1944 they were joined in service by the Ki- 61-II with more powerful Kawasaki Ha- 140 engine (producing 1119-kW); with a top speed of 610km/h this would have been an excellent fighter but for constant engine problems; yet when fully serviceable the Ki-61-II was one of the few Japanese fighters fully able to combat the Boeing B-29 at its normal operating altitude, particularly when armed with four 20-mm cannon. Excluding prototypes and development aircraft, production totalled 1,380 Ki-61-Is, 1,274 Ki- 61-I KAIs and 374 Ki-61-Ils.

 

[gekho]

The Ki-61 looked so different compared with the usual radial-engined Japanese fighters that the Allies at first, believed it to be of German or Italian origin, possibly a license-built Messerschmitt Bf 109. The first Ki-61 seen by Allied aircrew had been misidentified as a Bf 109 by USAAF Capt. C. Ross Greening during the Doolittle Raid. In early reports, when it was thought to have been a German fighter, the Ki-61 had been code-named "Mike". The final, and better known code name adopted was "Tony", because the Ki-61 looked like an Italian aircraft. The new Ki-61 Hien fighters entered service with a special training unit, the 23rd Chutai, and entered combat for first time in early 1943, during the New Guinea campaign. The first Sentai (Air Group/Wing) fully equipped with the Hien was the 68th in Wewak, New Guinea, followed by the 78th Sentai stationed at Rabaul. Both units were sent into a difficult theatre where jungles and adverse weather conditions, coupled with a lack of spares, quickly undermined the efficiency of both men and machines. Because the Ki-61 was so new, and had been rushed into service, it inevitably suffered from teething problems. Almost all of the modern Japanese aircraft engines, especially the Ki-61's liquid-cooled engines, suffered a disastrous series of failures and ongoing problems, which resulted in the obsolescent Ki-43 still forming the bulk of the JAAF's fighter capability. Initially, this campaign went successfully for the Japanese Army Air Force (JAAF), but when the Allies re-organized and enhanced the combat capabilities of their air forces, they gained the upper hand against the JAAF. High non-combat losses were also experienced by the Japanese during this campaign. For example, while in transit between Truk and Rabaul, the 78th lost 18 of its 30 Ki-61s. Even with these problems, there was some concern in Allied aviation circles regarding the Hien:

The new Japanese fighter caused some pain and consternation among Allied pilots, particularly when they found out the hard way that they could no longer go into a dive and escape as they had from lighter Japanese fighters. ...General George Kenney [Allied air forces commander in the Southwest Pacific] found his P-40s completely outclassed, and begged for more P-38s to counter the threat of the new enemy fighter. However, the increasing numerical strength of Allied bomber units, along with inadequate anti-aircraft systems, imposed crippling losses on Japanese units. Approximately 100 out of 130 Japanese aircraft based in the Wewak area were lost during the attacks of August 17–21 1943. By the end of the campaign, nearly 2,000 Japanese aircraft had been lost in air attacks from up to 200 Allied aircraft at a time, around half of which were B-24s and B-25s armed with fragmentation bombs. After the Japanese retreat, over 340 aircraft wrecks were later found at Hollandia.

The Ki-61 was also utilised in Southeast Asia, Okinawa, China and as an interceptor during US bombing raids over Japanese home islands, including against Boeing B-29 Superfortresses. The Ki-61 was notable for many reasons: initially identified as of either German or Italian origin, these aircraft were capable of matching Allied aircraft such as the P-40 in speed, and as evaluation had already showed, were superior in almost every respect. However, the armament of the early Hien was lighter, but still sufficient for most purposes. Some authors claim that the Lockheed P-38 Lightning was measurably superior.[23] The Ki-61 carried a great deal of fuel, but due to having self-sealing fuel tanks, it did not have the reputation for being "easily flammable", as were many other Japanese aircraft. Owing to the additional weight, the Ki-61's performance and agility suffered when its armament was increased, but it still remained capable with a 580 km/h (313 kn) maximum speed. The cannon armament was needed to counter the Allied bombers, which proved to be difficult to shoot down with only 12.7 mm (.50 in) machine guns. The empty and maximum weights for the Ki-61 prototype (2 × 12.7 mm/50 in + 2 × 7.7 mm/.303 in) were 2,238 kg (4,934 lb) and 2,950 kg (6,504 lb), respectively; for the Ki-61-I basic (4 × 12.7 mm/.50 in) 3,130 kg (6,900 lb); and for the Ki-61-KAI (2 × 12.7 mm/.50 in + 2 × 20 mm), 2,630 kg (5,798 lb) and 3,470 kg (6,750 lb). A number of Ki-61s were also used in Tokkotai (kamikaze) missions launched toward the end of the war. The Ki-61 was delivered to 15th Sentai (group/wing), as well as some individual Chutaicho (junior operational commanders) in other Sentai, and even to operational training units in the JAAF. The aircraft was largely trouble-free in service except for the liquid-cooled engine which tended to overheat when idling on the ground and suffered from oil circulation and bearing problems.

 

[Gnomey]

Good stuff!

 

[Wayne Little]