Thank you, krieghund, for the photos of the Ki-61 structures. The search for views of an "unskinned" Ki-61 engine cowl - which is to say, views of the completed structure only - continues, but one of your photos, the starboard side view, clearly shows not only one of the longitudinal beams forming the port side of the cowling, but another item similar to that on the He100, the rectangular hatch on the starboard side of the cowling.
A photo in Rene' Francillon's compendium, of a Japanese-built version of a DB 601A, shows the type of front engine mount adapter used in the Ki-61. This object was essentially identical in size and shape to the adapter used in the He100.
By the time the Ki-60 and Ki-61 were being developed, Japan had all but completely stopped building direct copies of non-indigenous airframes. Two of their primary suppliers of foreign technology, Germany and England, were at war, and war with another, the US, had become a distinct possibility. In a word, they'd recognized the need for self-reliance, and as such aircraft as the Zero and Nell will attest, they'd become quite good at it. That they'd stopped building copies of foreign, front-line aircraft does not mean however, that they'd chosen to ignore developments in foreign technology. Nor did Dr. Vogt's relationship with Kawasaki preclude ties with Heinkel.
Not incidentally, I've never found a photo of the engine bay in the Ki-60, but I do have a rudimentary factory drawing showing that the engine mounts were probably identical to those in the Bf 109.
A photo in Rene' Francillon's compendium, of a Japanese-built version of a DB 601A, shows the type of front engine mount adapter used in the Ki-61. This object was essentially identical in size and shape to the adapter used in the He100.
By the time the Ki-60 and Ki-61 were being developed, Japan had all but completely stopped building direct copies of non-indigenous airframes. Two of their primary suppliers of foreign technology, Germany and England, were at war, and war with another, the US, had become a distinct possibility. In a word, they'd recognized the need for self-reliance, and as such aircraft as the Zero and Nell will attest, they'd become quite good at it. That they'd stopped building copies of foreign, front-line aircraft does not mean however, that they'd chosen to ignore developments in foreign technology. Nor did Dr. Vogt's relationship with Kawasaki preclude ties with Heinkel.
Not incidentally, I've never found a photo of the engine bay in the Ki-60, but I do have a rudimentary factory drawing showing that the engine mounts were probably identical to those in the Bf 109.
