Originally posted by sax
I'm sure your thot process doesn't change according to plane type.
I don't get it.. While the Ki-84 is much welcomed, its performance is not superlative in any way.
Every Japanese test I ever saw in print shows a max speed in the 388 to 392 mph range. American tests of a captured Ki-84 do not reflect the performance seen in combat. Why? Because this aircraft was stripped of paint, flew without ammunition and was tested using 100/130 octane avgas. The best gas available to Japanese units was about 87 octane. What this means is that Japanese pilots were faced with hard-ceiling MAP limits. This combined with an already fragile powerplant meant that maximum power was limited.
This reminds me of the silly arguments where the Ki-100 is extolled as the "best Japanese fighter of WWII". Well, the Ki-100 showed almost zero performance advantage over the Ki-61 from which it was developed (only because the factory building Daimler type engines was bombed into rubble). It was more than 100 mph slower than the P-47Ns which roamed over Japan with nearly absolute impunity beginning in the spring of 1945.
As to the Ki-84, if HTC models performance according to Japanese tests, we can expect a sea level speed of around 348 mph, with a maximum speed of about 390 mph @ 21,500 feet. Dive performance will be similar to the N1K2-J (meaning it will be unimpressive), and climb rate should fall into the range of 3,500 to 3,800 fpm at sea level depending upon weight of load-out.
In other words, it will be a little faster than our 1942 Spit9 down low, and a little slower up high. Rate of turn will be almost the same as the wing loading is also virtually the same. On internal fuel, the Ki-84 could fly 1,025 miles, the Spit9 about 980 miles.
So, what I expect to see is a Spit9 clone with inferior dive performance, inferior high-speed handling and durability of airframe.
We can expect the Ki-84 to get a lot of use initially, but it will not unbalance the arena.
Pilots who know how to dominate the Spit9 will also dominate the Ki-84 by applying the same tactics.
One final note. Post-war analysis of Naval fighter operations shows that the F6F completely dominated the more advanced late-war Japanese fighters. It maintained an 8.5/1 kill to loss ratio against the the Ki-84, N1K2 and J2M combined as a group. Yet, this is inferior to the ratio of the P-38J/L, which exceeded 12/1 against this same group. This can be attributed to better pilot training, better tactics and (in general) stronger, more durable and reliable aircraft.
My regards,
Widewing
