Kawasaki Ki-100
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The Kawasaki Ki-100 was a fighter aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. The Japanese Army designation was "Type 5 Fighter" (五式戦闘機).
Born as a result of a desperate choice, the Ki-100 was an example everything falling into place at the right time, and it was, along with the Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate, the best aircraft of his kind available to the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force during the war, and possibly one of the finest combat aircraft of the entire conflict. The emergency measure of adapting a Mitsubishi radial engine in stored cells of Ki-61 II KAI, resulted in an excellent interceptor fighter, one of the best used by the Army during the entire war. Missions began in March 1945; from the first the Ki-100 showed its good qualities against the B-29 at high altitudes, as against U.s. Navy carrier fighters. All new Ki-100 Ib were constructed during the last weeks of conflict to equip five sentais for home defense.
By mid-1944, one of the best fighters of the IJAAF was the Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien ("Swallow", named "Tony" by the Allies). It was the only production Japanese fighter to have an in-line powerplant (The Kawasaki Ha-40, a Japanese adaptation of the German Daimler-Benz DB 601 engine) during World War II, as well as the first one with factory-installed armor and self-sealing fuel tanks. It had also a respectable performance, being a more "Western-like" fighter than previous models, with focus on speed instead of maneuverability. All of this made it a pretty good machine which was, however, penalized by engine development problems and various production difficulties during its combat career. The problems mentioned above (as well as the growing performance of enemy fighters, especially the F6F Hellcat) lead to the development of an improved model, the Ki-61-II (later Ki-61-II kai), powered by the new 1,120 kW (1500 hp) Kawasaki Ha-140 engine. Maximum speed grew from 590 km/h to 610 km/h (368 mph to 379 mph) and general performance (except climbing rate) improved as well. However, it was never able to perform as planned due to the continued degradation of the engine's assembly line quality. The production of this model ended at the beginning of 1945, when a B-29 raid destroyed the engine's production plant, leaving some 280+ finished Ki-61s without a powerplant. At this point of the war, the IJAAF was in desperate need of fighters capable of intercepting the enemy bomber raids over the Japanese mainland (the Ki-61 being one of the few models able to achieve this), so it was ordered that a Mitsubishi Ha-112-H engine should be installed on those frames.
The Mitsubishi Ha-112-H was a powerful powerplant, in fact equivalent to the Ha-140, but was a radial engine. After the study of an imported Fw 190A, an example of an aircraft in which a wide radial engine had been successfully installed in an airframe with a narrow width, three Ki-61II airframes were modified to carry this engine and to serve as prototypes. As a result, on February 1, 1945, the new model was flown for the first time. The army general staff was amazed by the flight characteristics of the plane, which surpassed the Hien's in all but maximum speed (this was degraded in a small degree by the larger drag zone), and the model was order to be put in production as Army Fighter Type 5 Model 1a. The company's name was Ki-100-1a and soon another 272+ frames were modified as well.
Army units to be equipped with this model included the 5th, 59th, 200th and 244th sentais and the 81st Independent Fighter Company. At the same time, the army ordered the development of a new, slightly modified, type, which was called Ki-100 Ib or Type-5. This model had a shorter fuselage with a bubble type canopy for improved visibility and was purposely built as a radial-engined machine. When the supply of engineless Ki-61-IIs ended, the new model came into production. Along with the previously named Army air units, the 17th, 18th, 25th, 111th, and 125th sentais were provided with training on this type.
The Ki-100 was soon encountered in combat by Allied forces, and it was rated by them as a first-class combat machine. A well-handled Ki-100 was able to out-maneuver any American fighter, and was (more or less) equally fast to them, specially at medium altitudes. In one encounter over Okinawa, one Ki-100-equipped unit destroyed 14 Hellcats without losses to themselves. The Ki-100 was also able to match the P-51D Mustangs and the P-47N Thunderbolts which were escorting the B-29 raids over Japan by that time, and it the hands of an experienced pilot, it could defeat them easily (the Army's Ki-84 and the Navy's Kawanishi N1K-J being the only other types able to achieve this). Against the B-29s themselves, however, things began to get difficult for the Japanese fighters, as the engine's performance decreased at high altitudes. The most effective way to attack the Superfortress, then, was by making very dangerous head-on attacks, changing their approach path as they neared the bombers. Of course, a failure while attempting this was deadly, because of the defensive fire concentration of the bombers. In this type of combat, so, the navy's Mitsubishi J2M Raiden interceptor was superior. After the bombing of the Kagamigahara plant and the slow deliveries of components by the satellite plants, production rates of the Ki-100 began to fall more and more, and in the period between May and July, only 12 units were delivered. Finally, production ended due to the bombing, with only 99 examples of the type-5 delivered, which was, in fact, very fortunate for the Allies.
Improvement of the basic model lead to the Ki-100-II, with a supercharged engine for high altitude interception of the B-29s, but only four examples were built, and it never saw combat.
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Versions
- Ki-100 (prototypes)one Cell of Kawasaki Ki-61 II KAI with
Radial engine.
- Ki-100 Ia Figther Type 5 of Army (mark Ia) initial model of
serie,KI-61 II KAI modified
- Ki-100 Ib(Mark Ib) total vision cabin
- Ki-100 II Prototypes- engine Mitsubishi Ha-112-II Ru with
Turbocompressor of 1,500 Hp.
- Total Prodction: 121 examples.
Specifications
- Model: Ki-100-1a/b (396 produced)
- Powerplant: One 1500 hp Mitsubishi Ha112-II engine.
Performance
- Max Speed: 360 mph (580 km/h) at 19,685 feet (6,000 m).
- Initial climb: 2,734 ft (833 m) / minute.
- Service ceiling: 36,090 feet (11,000 m)
- Maximum range: 1367 miles (2,200 km)
Dimensions and weights
- Wingspan: 34 ft 4 7/16 inches (10.5 m)
- Length: 28 feet 11 1/4 inches (8.8 m)
- Height: 12 feet 3 5/8 inches (3.7 m)
- Wing area: 215.3 square feet (20 m²)
- Weights: 5567 pounds (2,525 kg) empty, 7705 pounds (2495 kg) loaded.
Armament
- Two fuselage-mounted 20 mm Ho-5 cannon and two wing mounted 12.7 mm Ho-103 machine guns
External links
- [1] (http://www.vectorsite.net/avhien.html) Vectorsite article (public domain)
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