Ki-100 - we can get it easier than other IJAAF fighter...

[SunTracker]

Shuckins, I am familiar with a similar story.  The story I remember is that a single KI-100 was engaged by alot of F6Fs (at least 8 I think).  The F6F pilots were very green, engaging one at a time, and kept spinning their aircrafts.  The Ki-100 managed to get away.

IIRC, the Japanese pilot was blind in one eye, and he actually thought the F6Fs were Zeros, and tried to form on them.

[FDutchmn]

Originally posted by SunTracker
Shuckins, I am familiar with a similar story.  The story I remember is that a single KI-100 was engaged by alot of F6Fs (at least 8 I think).  The F6F pilots were very green, engaging one at a time, and kept spinning their aircrafts.  The Ki-100 managed to get away.

IIRC, the Japanese pilot was blind in one eye, and he actually thought the F6Fs were Zeros, and tried to form on them.

really?... I gotta find the source... which one you have?

[Shuckins]

Suntracker and FDutchman,

That sounds suspiciously like the incident involving Saburo Sakai in which he engaged 16 Hellcats off the coast of Iwo Jima.  (Talk about a gangbang!)

According to Sakai, who was blind in one eye, the American pilots must have been green because they couldn't hit the side of a barn with their gunnery.  Whenever a section made a pass at him he evaded them by going into a fast roll to the left.  Sakai said that if they had ever, once, spilled their shells into the area through which he had to fly during that maneuver he would almost certainly have been shot down.  In other words, a veteran pilot would have shot him down.

Regards, Shuckins/Leggern

[Shuckins]

FDutchman,

Sorry, almost forgot.  The source is the book Samurai, authored by Martin Caidin and is a history of Saburo Sakai's wartime experiences as related to Caidin by Sakai himself.

Regards, Shuckins/Leggern

[Karnak]

Sakai was flying an A6M5 in that "fight", not a Ki100.

Sakai was a Navy pilot, not an Army pilot.  All "Ki" aircraft are Army and all "LetterNumberLetterNumber" aircraft are Navy.

[FDutchmn]

Originally posted by Shuckins
Suntracker and FDutchman,

That sounds suspiciously like the incident involving Saburo Sakai in which he engaged 16 Hellcats off the coast of Iwo Jima.  (Talk about a gangbang!)

According to Sakai, who was blind in one eye, the American pilots must have been green because they couldn't hit the side of a barn with their gunnery.  Whenever a section made a pass at him he evaded them by going into a fast roll to the left.  Sakai said that if they had ever, once, spilled their shells into the area through which he had to fly during that maneuver he would almost certainly have been shot down.  In other words, a veteran pilot would have shot him down.

Regards, Shuckins/Leggern

FDutchman,

Sorry, almost forgot. The source is the book Samurai, authored by Martin Caidin and is a history of Saburo Sakai's wartime experiences as related to Caidin by Sakai himself.

Regards, Shuckins/Leggern

ahh thought so.  Thanks for filling me in Shuckins.  I haven't been able to look into that claim about the flight of Ki-100 over Okinawa yet.  But me thinks its a discredited story...  I will dig up some books at the public library soon.

[Angus]

The Ki100 was a newer and improved version of the KI61.
How did it get worse?

[Mitsu]

at dive.

[Vermillion]

The Ki100 was a newer and improved version of the KI61.
How did it get worse?

Not exactly.  The Ki100 was not a newer and improved version of the Ki61.  Think of it as a Ki61 with a different engine.

What happened was that B-29 strikes had destroyed the factory that produced the engine for the Ki-61-II (which was superior to the Ki-100 in almost every way).  So there were several hundred completed Ki-61 airframes sitting around with no engines.

Japan in its desperation for aircraft to defend against the American bomber strikes started looking for ways to get those aircraft into action.

Their solution was to fit a smaller, lighter, and very reliable, but less powerful radial engine which they already had in production to the existing airframes.  And the Ki-100 was born.

This produced an aircraft that was very reliable, during a time when production quality and reliability was low throughout the japanese airforce.  This plus the extreme manueverability (something the japanese always valued) gave birth to the history that produced what I call the "Ki-100 Myth" that you see in the online sim BBS's.

The Ki-100 was a cobbled together design that was obsolete and outclassed from its first day in service.  The Ki-84 and the Ki-61-II were the best that the Japanese Airforce ever produced in WWII.

[Shuckins]

The Frank was the only mass-produced Japanese fighter that could truly measure up to late war U.S. fighters in speed.  It was significantly faster than the Ki-100.  The only significant advantage that the American fighters had over the Frank was at higher-altitudes.

That is beside the point, as far as the debate over the Ki-100 is concerned.  Very little aerial combat in the Pacific theater took place at extremely high altitudes.  Most encounters between American and Japanese fighters took place at altitudes of 20,000 feet or less.  Most Japanese fighters were designed specifically to perform at their best at these altitudes.  That is why the B-29 raids caused Japanese home island defense forces so many insuperable problems.

The Ki-100 should be made a part of the AH plane set for a number of very good reasons:

1.  It outperformed the Zero in top speed.

2.  It had heavy firepower.

3.  It was a sterling performer at altitudes below 20,000 feet, which fits in perfectly with the type of combat flown by the nimrods of AH.

4.  The Ki-100 was equipped with armor plating for the pilot and self-sealing fuel-tanks.

5.  It also probably inherited the Ki-61's excellent diving ability.

6.  The Ki-100 was easy to fly.

Top speed isn't everything, at least to some pilots.  There are quite a few people in AH who would appreciate the Ki-100's qualities.

Regards, Shuckins/Leggern

[brady]

Their are several good resions to add the Ki-100 and hopefully we will see the Ki-100 in AH some day. Howeaver realisticaly we can not expect to see several Japanese planes added in the short term. What we are likely to see if any are added are one or two at best. Since this is the likely scenario, it would be better imo to lobby for a plane that would fit better over all:

Ki-84: It was better than the KI-100 in prety much every posable way, and had a much wider usage and was in service for a longer perioud of time, as such it would have better usage for Events and for the CT, and Scenarious, and fit in the MA better, so realy the logical choice hear is clear.

.................

 The above of course asumes we only get one new Japanese plane in the short term, my second choice would be the Juddy for a truly new model. Then of course a couple varents of fighters we have at present, the A6M3 and the Ki-61-Ib. This would make 4 new toys in all with two new modles and two varents.

[Rasker]

An even easier Japanese fighter to add would be the A6M8, the final version of the Zeke with top speed of nearly 370 mph.  It was said to compete well with the Helcat and give a great deal of trouble to F4F's and Fm2's.

[Shuckins]

Rasker,

The A6M8 was ordered into mass production but none of the aircraft were finished by war's end.  Despite improvements in speed, it would still have been more than 50mph slower than the F4U-1D and 40mph slower than the Hellcat at 20,000 feet.

Since it did not enter combat we will not be seeing it in AH.

Regards, Shuckins/Leggern

[Mitsu]

Originally posted by Vermillion
The Ki-100 was a cobbled together design that was obsolete and outclassed from its first day in service.  The Ki-84 and the Ki-61-II were the best that the Japanese Airforce ever produced in WWII.

Yeah, the Ki-100 should have been made in '44 at least.
If so, it might replace Ki-43-III and Ki-84 which had poor engine.

[Karnak]

Mitsu,

The problem is that speed is the single most important performance aspect of a fighter and of the Japanese fighters, only the Ki-84 has it.

That alone, in my book, makes the Ki-84 definitively the best Japanese fighter.

The Ki-100 being no faster than an N1K1-J is doomed to suffer the same fate as all aircraft that go up against an enemy that has a 50mph advantage,  The manuverabilty will allow some exceptional pilots to capitalize and do well, but for the bulk of it's pilots it is a death trap as it cannot disengage.  Once engaged it must win or die.