Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa / OSCAR

jerry, e-mail, 26.08.2010 22:10 I didn't mean to imply that it was correct to equate the Oscar with the Zero, I'm just saying it was commonly done by Allied pilots at the time (more as a nickname for identification purposes, than for any comparison of the two plane's capabilities). reply

Ron, e-mail, 27.08.2010 21:40 In the way I tend to regard the Jack as a navy Tojo I guess. I can see that. They do the same role - point defense interceptor. But I still believe it helps to specify Jack if it's not a Tojo. (Incidently Mitsubishi and Nakajima again Like the Zero and Oscar were) I'm a little over-sensitive about wartime misinformation and over-simplification. A skilled Buffalo pilot could hang with a Ki 43-I but not an A6M2 for example. Knowing specifics could make the difference. reply

Ron, e-mail, 27.08.2010 21:06 Yeah. Army counterpart. OK. Like if the Japanese pilots called the Republic Lancer or Thunderbolt an army Hellcat or Corsair for purposes of identification. Similar but different. One could argue it helps mis-identify and still tends to degrade the impression of US rank and file aptitude. The fact that it was commonly done doesn't make it any smarter. It's embarrassing. It's something the US media would do! reply

Ron, e-mail, 29.08.2010 01:37 When Master Sgt. Akira Sugimoto in his humble Ki 43 'Oscar' spotted 4 USAAF new P-38L Lightnings above at 1,500 ft altitude and to his left head-on, little did he know he was about to bring down Major Tom McGuire who was intent on becoming the top US ace. In fact it was the last day for both. Akira evaded McGuire and Weaver and struck the left engine of Doug Thropp Jr. who was about to release his drop tanks, but McGuire ordered him to "save your tanks" and Major Jack Rittmayer drove Akira off of Doug's tail. So The Ki43 switched to attack Weaver's P-38. Tommy tried to save his wingman by turning the borrowed P-38L after Sugimoto's fly weight Hayabusa. At low level the Lightning fully stalled, snap-rolled on it's back and crashed on Neros Island in flames. After escaping into the clouds and landing his damaged Ki43, Akira was shot by Filipino guerillas. A Ki 84 was late coming to the fight with the P-38s. Rittmayer exchanged fire head-on and went down. The Hayate faced the other 2 and they disengaged after a few shots. The avenging Nakajima 'Frank' was flown by Mizunori Fukuda, a 21 year old instructor. McGuire was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for saving Weaver. Can you believe some folks think he was in a dogfight with a couple Zeros! reply

Ron, e-mail, 29.01.2010 07:25 That's like tv news calling every Russian fighter a MiG! To us that's heresy. But sad to say, it doesn't insult the intelligence of the general public. Calling an Oscar, a Zero is the same as calling a Spitfire a Hurricane. See what the RAF pilots would think of you then. An A6M 'Zero' is answering the same criteria as it's Army rival so the Ki 43 Oscar has similar broad strengths and weaknesses (Like a P-39 and P-40 in their own way). Now I am tempted to point out a few pertinent differences. The Zero had 4 guns, 7.7 mm and 20 mm and no armor till 1944! Then some 13.2 mm started replacing the 7.7 mm and armor protection was added incrementally. The Oscar took a different approach. It started out with armor (by Japanese standards) and had only 2 guns for the duration of the war! It skipped the low ballistic 20 mm and started with the 7.7 mm cowl guns, then one 7.7 mm and one 12.7 mm, then twin 12.7 mm. The twin 20 mm guns were late comers. The appearance was similar but for the tail. The Zero had that Mitsubishi cone tip like the A5M Claude before it and the J2M Jack that followed. Niether of these Mitsubishis would be mistaken for a Zero by a trained pilot except head-on at a distance. Maybe. But the Oscar is a Nakajima fighter with the slightly rounded rudder shared by that family of fighters, from the Nate to the Frank. It reminds me of the Ki 61 Tony misidentified as a German Bf 109 (or Italian Macchi C 202 - hence the code name Tony) in Japanese service or else a copy, as if it wasn't their own Kawasaki design around the same inline engine. The fact that it took air superiority away from the US fighters when it appeared in the Pacific may have had a little something to do with this WW 2 propaganda. To this day some Americans still believe it. I need a drink! reply

jerry, e-mail, 01.12.2009 21:22 In addition to "Oscar", the Ki-43 was commonly nicknamed the "Army Zero" for it's resemblance and similar performance characteristics to the more famous Navy A6M. reply

Ronald, e-mail, 11.09.2009 09:54 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. reply

Torbjörn Kampe, 16.06.2009 19:14 I love this Ki-43. And this teknikal date. And Ki-43 figter ess. reply

Hiroyuki Takeuchi, e-mail, 30.01.2009 03:41 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. reply

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