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The Kawasaki Ki-61-II with the company's
Ha-140 engine was seen as an
interim high-altitude interceptor to
tackle the USAF's Boeing B-29s at their
cruising altitude of some 9000m. However, development of
the Ha-140 as a reliable powerplant
was terminated finally when the
Akashi factory where the engine was
built was destroyed during an air raid.
With the requirement becoming daily
more urgent, Kawasaki was instructed
to convert the 275 Ki-61-II airframes
gathering dust in the Kagamigahara
factory with alternative powerplant.
No other similar engine was available
and adaptation of the slender fuselage
of the Ki-61 to allow installation of a
large-diameter radial engine at first
appeared impractical. However,
Kawasaki's design team converted
three airframes to serve as prototypes,
installing a Mitsubishi Ha-112-II engine
which had the same power output as
the unreliable Ha-140. When the first of
these was flown, on 1 February 1945,
Kawasaki discovered that it had a first class
fighter, one that some commentators
have described as Japan's premier
fighter aircraft of the Pacific war.
By the end of May 1945 all of the remaining
272 Ki-61 airframes had been
converted to the new configuration,
entering service as the Army Type 5
Fighter Model 1A, which was identified
by the company as the Kawasaki
Ki-100-Ia.
With the Ki-100 proving such a success,
it was decided to initiate production
of this aircraft, the resulting Ki-100-Ib differing only by having the cutdown
rear fuselage and all-round-view
canopy that had been designed for the
proposed Ki-61-III. A total of 99 of this
version was built before production
was brought to an end by the growing
weight of USAAF air attacks. A more
effective version had been planned, to
be powered by the Mitsubishi Ha-112-
Ilru engine which incorporated a turbocharger
to improve high-altitude
performance, but only three of these
Ki-100-II prototypes had been built
and flown by the end of the war.
| MODEL | Ki-100-I |
| CREW | 1 |
| ENGINE | 2 x Mitsubishi Ha-112-II, 1125kW |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 3495 kg | 7705 lb |
| Empty weight | 2525 kg | 5567 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 12 m | 39 ft 4 in |
| Length | 8.82 m | 28 ft 11 in |
| Height | 3.75 m | 12 ft 4 in |
| Wing area | 20 m2 | 215.28 sq ft |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 580 km/h | 360 mph |
| Cruise speed | 400 km/h | 249 mph |
| Ceiling | 11000 m | 36100 ft |
| Range w/max.fuel | 2200 km | 1367 miles |
| Range w/max.payload | 1400 km | 870 miles |
| ARMAMENT | 2 x 20mm cannons, 2 x 12.7mm machine-guns |
 | A three-view drawing (752 x 963) |
| m.wolf, m.wolf(@)yahoo.com, 20.03.2008 It truly was an amazing feat of engineering that Imperial Japan could develop such a fine fighting machine at this stage of the war. She was deployed in February of 1945 at a time when Japanese industry and cities were being pummelled unmercifully by Curtis Lemays B-29 bombers. Joining a Mitsubishi Homare 112 engine with a Kawasaki KI-61 airframe was done by studying blue prints of the Yokasuka D4Y1 torpedoe plane and having help also from the Focke- Wulf staff who married a BMW 801 engine with a slim airframe and developed another fine fighting machine. The Kawasaki KI-100 was truly an outstanding fighter for its time and the pilots praised how easy it was to fly. | | Cardinal Sin, 21.02.2008 Propably the best japanese fighter of WW2 |
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