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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.
| MODEL | Ki-43-IIb |
| CREW | 1 |
| ENGINE | 1 x Nakajima Ha-115, 858kW |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 2590 kg | 5710 lb |
| Empty weight | 1910 kg | 4211 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 10.84 m | 35 ft 7 in |
| Length | 8.92 m | 29 ft 3 in |
| Height | 3.27 m | 10 ft 9 in |
| Wing area | 21.4 m2 | 230.35 sq ft |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 530 km/h | 329 mph |
| Ceiling | 11200 m | 36750 ft |
| Range w/max.fuel | 3200 km | 1988 miles |
| ARMAMENT | 2 x 12.7mm machine-guns, 2 x 250-kg bombs |
 | A three-view drawing (752 x 1003) |
| Ronald, toolkeeper123(@)roadrunner.com, 11.09.2009 Everywhere you look the books say the Ki 43-II used two 12.7 mm MGs in the cowl, unless you look at the evidence at the combat fighter bases. It seems these Browning based Type 1 Ho-103 heavy machine guns were too unreliable and slow so the field crews replaced one of them with the old reliable Vickers based 7.7 mm Type 89. At least the early Ho-103s risked shooting down their own Oscars, so they protected the engine from the gun's misfire, with armor.
Judging from their sister Italian weapons, the Breda-SAFAT 7.7 mm and 12.7 mm with the same ammo and lineage, I estimate these synchronized cowl guns may have fired at the rate of 700+ r/m for the 7.7 mm, and 450 r/m for the 12.7 mm IJAAF guns. Both 7.7 mm guns were vickers by design and both 12.7 mm guns were Browning (but the Breda was reliable). Does anyone know the real rates?
We know that the synchronized Bredas fired 665 r/m ave, and 575 r/m ave. respectively and unsynchronized they fire 850 r/m and 700 r/m while the faster Japanese versions both fired 900 r/m. Obviously the IJAAF was impressed with prewar Italian MGs and ammo. Small exploding rounds were effective against fighters of the 1930s but the metal skinned fighters were another story (not to mention bombers). Tachikawa was the main builder of production Ki 43-IIIa fighters. But it was the -IIIb that got the 20 mm Ho-5 twin cannon and these were only prototypes. | | Torbjörn Kampe, 16.06.2009 I love this Ki-43. And this teknikal date. And Ki-43 figter ess. | | Hiroyuki Takeuchi, cxc02366(@)nifty.com, 30.01.2009 There are several subtypes to the Ki43II, without official designation changes. The very first type had full span wings like the Ki43I. This type recorded a max speed of 515km/h. The next variant with clipped wings recorded 530km/h. With the "rocket" exhaust systems fitted to later models, the figure went up to 548km/h.
Also, although the number of Ki43IIIs completed is not clear, it seems to have been available in substantial numbers from late 1944. Tachikawa took over Ki43 production after the introduction of the Ki84, and they built about 2500 Ki43s (no subtype information available) so I would not be surprised to see at least a 1000 Ki43IIIs manufacutred. Units like the 64th Sentai chose it as their replacement for the Ki43II over the Ki84 and all of their front line machines were Ki43IIIs by the war's end. Many Kamikaze unit photographs equipped with the Ki43III also exist so they did see substantial action in combat during 44-45. |
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