Looking for Ki 43 Hayabusa data

[Greyman]

If anyone can point me towards any Ki 43 flight tests or performance data I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

 

[Ivan1GFP]

Data from FAOTW Page 20.

- Ivan.

 

[Shinpachi]

Here is another one

 

[Wurger]

Nice stuff here.

 

[tomo pauk]

The two sources disagree about the armament of the Ki-43-I - so were there two HMGs or LMGs on board?

 

[Shinpachi]

Details of the first Japanese list are -

"Type 1 12.7mm machinegun x 2" is for Ki-43 Ic(hei)
For Ki-43 Ia(kou), it is "Type 89 7.7mm machinegun x 2" with ammunition 500 x 2
For Ki-43 Ib(otsu), it is "Type 1 12.7mm(ammunition 270)" x 1 and "Type 89 7.7mm(ammunition 500)" x 1

Thanks.

 

[Shortround6]

There may be some differences between what was official listed and what was actually fitted or used due to temporary supply issues at the factory/s, ammunition availability in the field, and operational problems with the 12.7mm gun and ammunition. Metal plates being fitted under the muzzles of some 12.7mm guns due the exploding ammunition tending to explode upon leaving the muzzle (even one in 200 rounds making things rather tooo exciting for the pilot).

 

[Vincenzo]

if i remember right i've read that there were not Ki-43 I a, b or c there were alone I with different weapons combination.
This is post war western nomenclature, so "our" japanese book was not on japanese sources?

 

[tomo pauk]

Thanks for the explanations

 

[krieghund]

Here is some more specifications. The TAIC pages of course take with a grain of salt as it doesn't really state these numbers are as a result of flight tests even though there are plenty of pictures showing testing.

 

[lingo]

All this information is interesting and adds to our knowledge but what is often missing is the stalling speeds of Japanese aircraft in general, other than it was 'lower than allied aircraft'.

 

[krieghund]

All this information is interesting and adds to our knowledge but what is often missing is the stalling speeds of Japanese aircraft in general, other than it was 'lower than allied aircraft'.

The yellow faded document above has a landing speed of 118 km/h for the Ki-43-II. The Japanese books are usually pretty good in giving either the landing or stall speeds.

 

[Vincenzo]

unlucky first two documents you posted are near impossble to read (and not because the first is in japanese and 2nd in a west slavic language)

 

[krieghund]

Ok I enhanced them, hope that is better

 

[Shinpachi]

Learn.

 

[Vincenzo]

Ok I enhanced them, hope that is better

thanks, the first now full readable

 

[Ivan1GFP]

As for the documents being in a foreign language, there must be some expectation of what the data values will be. The context can be used to figure out what the numbers represent. For example 11,000 meters probably is a Service Ceiling or Absolute Ceiling. The HP @ Altitude ratings are pretty easy to figure out. The Columns can easily be seen to be for the Ki-43-I, Ki-43-II, and Ki-43-III.

I am sure that if you ask nicely, some folks here will help you.

Good Luck.
- Ivan.

 

[krieghund]

I convert the PDF to a TIFF and OCR it into ABBYY Finereader. From there I go to the many on-line translator applications to get a reasonable explanation of the text in question. If a word or phrase still won't translate you can ask it in this forum and sometimes I inquire to a aircraft manufacturer of the native language. For example, I have some documents for the Heinkel He100 in Russian so I sent a request to Antonov and they were most helpful with technical terms which are not currently in use anymore.

 

[Shinpachi]

Thanks for the explanations

You are welcome, tomo pauk!

I convert the PDF to a TIFF and OCR it into ABBYY Finereader. From there I go to the many on-line

translator applications to get a reasonable explanation of the text in question. If a word or phrase still won't translate

you can ask it in this forum and sometimes I inquire to a aircraft manufacturer of the native language. For example, I

have some documents for the Heinkel He100 in Russian so I sent a request to Antonov and they were most helpful with

technical terms which are not currently in use anymore.

I believe, krieghund, such your sincere and noble efforts as trying to understand what the foreign text says by yourself first would always be bringing the friendly cooperation from the other side of the world. That is your great assets with no doubt.

In the Japanese text you posted, there is an interesting description, though you may have noticed already, about the performance differences between Japan and US.
It says -

"In general, these performance values tested by the US are higher than those by IJA or Nakajima.
Maximum speed, above all, indicates incredibly superior values that the Japanese were unable to achieve at all.
That would have been because they used high octane gasoline."

According to my knowledge, Japanese aircrafts were generally designed for the 100 octane but it was 91 in actual operation because of fuel shortage while it was 140 for the US and allied aircrafts.

Wish above helps.
Thanks.

 

[krieghund]

I believe, krieghund, such your sincere and noble efforts as trying to understand what the foreign text says by yourself first would always be bringing the friendly cooperation from the other side of the world. That is your great assets with no doubt.

[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]

You are too kind. Thank you

What are your thoughts about the A6M receiving the Kinsei 62 in early 1943 if the Kinsei 44 was installed at the beginning of production?