WikiPortallus: Nakajima Ki-43.html

The Oscar was designed to a set of similar specifications as those of the Mitsubishi Zero, but it was more lightweight and was even less rugged than its naval counterpart. Known for its nimble handling and legendary for its performance in East Asia in the early years of the war, the Ki-43 was designed by Hideo Itokawa, who would later become famous as a pioneer of Japanese rocketry. Although the maneuverability of the prototype was quite good, some Japanese pilots complained that it was less maneuverable than the Ki-27 "Nate". This was remedied by Itokawa's addition of a unique 'butterfly' maneuvering aileron in the wings, which helped performance in tight turns, although some pilots still complained. The initial production version was given the designation Ki-43-I. In addition to outstanding maneuverability, the Ki-43-I had a very impressive rate of climb due to its light weight, with a top speed of 308 mph (495 km/h) at 13,160 feet (4000 m).

The Ki-43 was equipped with two cowling machine guns in various configurations, with either two 7.7 mm machine guns, one 12.7 mm Ho-103 heavy machine gun (machine cannon) and one 7.7 mm gun, or two Ho-103 12.7 mm guns; the aircraft was given various sub-designations to reflect these differences. However, the configuration that appears to have been most prevalent at the outset of the war was the latter configuration with two Ho-103 12.7 mm heavy machine guns, sometimes given the official designation Ki-43-I (Mark Ic).¹ The Ho-103 was often loaded with explosive ammunition to increase target effect; its penetrative effect against later Allied aircraft armour appears to have been marginal.²

Operational history

The Ki-43 was the most widely-used Army fighter, and equipped 30 sentai (groups) and 12 chutais (squadrons). The first version, Mark I, entered service in 1941, the Mark II in December 1942, the II-Kai in June 1943, and the Mark IIIa in summer 1944.

Like the Zero, the Ki-43 initially enjoyed air superiority in the skies of Malaya, Netherlands East Indies, Burma and New Guinea. This was partly to do with the better performance of the Oscar³ and partly due to the relatively small numbers of combat-ready Allied fighters, mostly the P-36, P-40, Brewster Buffalo, Hawker Hurricane and Curtiss-Wright CW-21 in Asia and the Pacific during the first months of the war. However, as the war progressed, the fighter suffered from the same weaknesses as the Ki-27 and the Mitsubishi Zero; light armor and less-than-effective self-sealing tanks, which caused high casualties in combat. Its armament of two machine guns also proved inadequate against the more heavily armoured Allied aircraft. As newer Allied aircraft were introduced, such as the Vought Corsair, Hellcat and Seafire Mk III, the Japanese were forced into a defensive war and most aircraft were flown by inexperienced pilots.

Hayabusas were well liked in the JAAF because of the pleasant flight characteristics and excellent manouevreability, and almost all JAAF fighter aces claimed victories with Hayabusa in some part of their career. At the end of the war most Hayabusa units received Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate ("Frank") fighters, but some units flew the Hayabusa to the end of the war. The top scorer with Hayabusa was Sgt. Satoshi Anabuki with 59 victories.

Variants