With its relatively low-powered radial engine, two-blade propeller and twin rifle-calibre machine-gun armament, the Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (peregrine falcon) was the most dangerously underestimated Japanese fighter of the early months of the Pacific war; yet, with its outstanding manoeuvrability, it gained complete mastery over Brewster Buffalos and Hawker Hurricanes in Burma. It was the result of a 1937 design which emerged as a light- weight fighter-bomber that required no more than its 709kW to meet its speed demands. In common with other Japanese fighters of the time, however, its armament was puny by RAF standards, and it possessed neither armour nor self-sealing fuel tanks. As the Allied air forces pulled themselves together after the first shock of defeat, the Ki-43-I's weaknesses were discovered and increasing losses suffered, resulting in the introduction of the Ki-43-II (codenamed 'Oscar' by the Allies), with pilot armour, rudimentary self-sealing fuel tanks and reflector gunsight; the engine was also changed to the 858kW Nakajima Ha-115 radial which increased the top speed to 530km/h, roughly the same as that of the Hurricane Mk II. The Ki-43-IIb entered mass production in November 1942, first with Nakajima and six months later with Tachikawa. Final variant was the Ki-43-III with 917kW engine and a top speed of 576km/h, but relatively few examples reached operational units. The Ki-43 was numerically the most important of all Japanese army air force aircraft, production totalling 5,886, plus 33 prototypes and trials aircraft.

3-View

A three-view drawing (752 x 1003)