formasjon tony

[Ruben Frydstad]

dette flye hetter tony og fløy formasjon med tony og det er japansk allt inni står på japask fra spedd målern til dør opneren

kom borti skyte knapen på parkeringa

 

også litt info om det

 

ORIGINS OF THE KI-61

 

* The confusion of the Ki-61 with German and Italian fighters had some basis in the aircraft's origins. Between 1923 and 1933, Kawasaki Aircraft Engineering Company's head designer was a German named Dr. Richard Vogt, who returned to Germany in 1933 to take a similar position at the firm of Blohm und Voss. Not surprisingly, Kawasaki continued to be strongly influenced by Dr. Vogt's beliefs after he left, particularly a faith in the merits of liquid-cooled inline engines. This made Kawasaki something of a heretic among Japanese aircraft manufacturers, who preferred air-cooled radials.

 

In March 1938, Kawasaki signed an agreement with Daimler-Benz of Germany for manufacturing rights to the liquid-cooled inline engines then under development by the German firm. In April 1940, a Kawasaki engineering team visited Daimler-Benz in Stuttgart to obtain plans and samples of the DB-601A engine, then being used in the Bf-109.

 

The Kawasaki engine team managed to increase the take-off power of their version of the engine to 875 kW (1,175 HP) and reduce its weight slightly. The engine was put into production in November 1941. It was designated the "Ha-40", or "Army Type 2", though it would be later redesignated the "Ha-60" in a combined Army/Navy nomenclature.

 

In the meantime, certain officers at the Air Headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) were very interested in the new fighters powered by liquid-cooled engines being developed in Britain, the USA, the USSR, Germany, and France. The Japanese Army also had unpleasant experiences in air combat against Soviet Polikarpov I-16 fighters during the beating the Japanese took from the USSR in a border clash over Manchuria in the summer of 1939. This experience suggested that the single-minded focus on agility above all that characterized Japanese fighter design doctrine might need to yield to a focus on speed and improved armor protection and firepower.

 

* In February 1940, the IJA initiated work with Kawasaki on two single-seat fighters based on the DB-601A derivative engine: a heavy interceptor, designated the "Ki-60", and a general-purpose fighter, designated the "Ki-61". Kawasaki decided to build the Ki-60 first, and the design team, under Kawasaki chief designer Takeo Doi and his deputy Shin Owada, constructed three prototypes of the interceptor in 1941.

 

The Ha-40 engine was not available at that time, so the three aircraft were powered by sample DB-601A engines obtained from Germany. The Ki-60 was a low-wing monoplane, with plenty of power and heavy armament by Japanese standards. The first and second prototypes had two 12.7 millimeter (0.50 caliber) Ho-103 machine guns mounted on the nose in front of the pilot and two 20 millimeter Mauser MG-151 cannons, one mounted in each wing, for a total of four guns. The third prototype had four 12.7 millimeter guns.

 

KAWASAKI KI-60:

 

spec metric english

 

wingspan 10.5 meters 34 feet 5 inches

wing area 16.2 sq_meters 174.4 sq_feet

length 8.47 meters 27 feet 9 inches

height 3.7 meters 12 feet 2 inches

 

empty weight 2,150 kilograms 4,740 pounds

loaded weight 2,750 kilograms 6,063 pounds

 

max speed at altitude 560 KPH 348 MPH / 303 KT

service ceiling 10,000 meters 32,800 feet

 

Flight tests began in March 1941 and showed that the Ki-60 was too unmaneuverable and didn't meet its speed and climb requirements. Various tweaks to improve the aircraft failed, and so the Ki-60 was abandoned.

 

* The experience was valuable, however. Design work on the Ki-61, whose development had been proceeding in parallel with the Ki-60 since December 1940, incorporated new features derived from the lessons learned by the Ki-60 program:

 

Aerodynamic refinements were added.

 

The wing was increased in size and length to improve maneuverability.

 

The fuselage was slimmed down to improve speed.

 

Armament was reduced by replacing the two 20 millimeter guns in the wings with either two 12.7 millimeter Ho-103 guns or two Type 89 7.7 millimeter (0.303 caliber) guns.

 

Fuel capacity was increased, as required by offensive fighter operations, which dictated longer range than required by an interceptor.

 

The landing gear track was widened to allow use from primitive forward airfields.

 

The first prototype was rolled out in early December 1941, and its performance proved excellent. Eleven more prototypes were delivered to the IJA for intensive trials. The Ki-61 was pitted against other Japanese fighters, as well as against the Messerschmitt Bf-109E-3, of which two had been bought by the IJA from the Germans, and the Curtiss P-40E, several of which had fallen into Japanese hands after the capture of the Dutch East Indies.

 

While test pilots were a little skeptical of the new aircraft at first, pilots with combat experience appreciated the Ki-61's self-sealing fuel tanks, heavier armor and armament, and fast diving speed. The air combat tests showed the Ki-61 to be faster than all its adversaries, and easily out-maneuvered all of them except the Japanese Nakajima Ki-43 ("Oscar").

 

The 13th Ki-61, a production prototype, was delivered in August 1942. The IJA gave the green light for production, and the fighter began to roll off the assembly line, with 34 delivered by the end of 1942. The type was formally known as the "Army Type 3 Fighter Model 1 Hien", or "Ki-61-I".

 

The production machines differed from the prototypes only in tweaky details. Initial production consisted of two variants: the "Ki-61-Ia", with two 12.7 millimeter guns in the nose and a 7.7 millimeter gun in each wing, for a total of four guns; and the "Ki-61-Ib", with 12.7 millimeter guns in both fuselage and wings. These aircraft could be fitted with two 200 liter (53 US gallon) drop tanks.

 

[2] THE KI-61-I GOES TO WAR

 

* The Hien entered combat in the spring of 1943 in the New Guinea war zone, covering New Guinea, the Admiralty Islands, New Britain, and New Ireland. 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. 5th Air Force Commander General George Kenney found his P-40 Warhawks completely outclassed, and begged for more P-38 Lightnings to counter the threat of the new enemy fighter.

 

The Ki-61 demonstrated only a few teething problems in field use, such as a tendency towards engine overheating during ground running under tropical conditions. However, despite the heavier armament, it still didn't have the punch to easily knock rugged and well-armed Allied bombers out of the sky.

 

The Kawasaki designers had forseen this problem. The Japanese Ho-5 20 millimeter cannon wasn't available at the time, but the Japanese obtained 800 Mauser MG-151/20 20 millimeter cannon from Germany in August 1943, and modified 388 Ki-61-I airframes on the production line to carry the German weapons in place of the two 12.7 millimeter wing guns. The cannon had to be mounted on their sides to fit into a wing, with an underwing blister for the breech, and some reinforcements were added to the wing to absorb the heavier recoil.

 

* Once the Ho-5 cannon became available, Kawasaki designers then reversed the arrangement of the guns, putting the 20 millimeter cannon in the nose and the 12.7 millimeter guns in the wings. While they were making these modifications, they also made a few changes to streamline manufacturing and simplify field maintenance.

 

This new variant was designated the "Ki-61-I KAIc" (where "KAI" was for "kaizo", or "modified") was 19 centimeters (7.5 inches) longer than its predecessors, and also featured a detachable rear section; a fixed tailwheel instead of the earlier retractable tailwheel; stronger wings; and stores pylons outboard of the main landing gear, allowing it to carry two 250 kilogram (550 pound) bombs.

 

KAWASAKI KI-61-I KAIC:

 

spec metric english

 

wingspan 12 meters 39 feet 4 inches

wing area 20 sq_meters 215.3 sq_feet

length 8.94 meters 29 feet 3 inches

height 3.70 meters 12 feet 2 inches

 

empty weight 2,630 kilograms 5,800 pounds

loaded weight 3,470 kilograms 7,650 pounds

 

maximum speed 590 KPH 366 MPH / 318 KT

service ceiling 10,000 meters 32,810 feet

range 1,800 kilometers 1,120 MI / 975 NMI

 

The Ki-61-I KAIc went into production in January 1944 and ultimately replaced production of all earlier models in August 1944. A few "Ki-61-I KAId" bomber interceptors were also built in late 1944. These aircraft featured two 12.7 millimeter guns in the fuselage and a 30 millimeter Ho-105 cannon in each wing. Total production of all subvariants of the Ki-61-I was 2,654, with the Ki-61-I KAIc accounting for over half that number.

 

 

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[Magnus F. Meese]

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