AckAck: You seem more knowledgable than "some others" here on this topic. What's your take (be objective, be honest) on the importance of the Ki-43-III and its role in the bigger picture, vis-a-vis its importance to the AH planeset?
Sorry for the lateness of this reply.
I believe that the Ki-43 is one of those planes that has been over looked for quite some time for it's inclusion in AH. Frankly, I don't know why, maybe because HiTech and gang have been happy with having the Zeke substitute for the Ki-43. Whatever the reasons why it's not in the game, it should be. It was a very important aircraft for the Japanese, more so than the Zeke. It was the primary fighter for the IJAF after replacing the Ki-27 and I believe had a better record than the Zeke.
Now, with the Ki-43 III in particular...does this plane have a place in AH? Yes, it does. Why? Because it represents the evolution of the main fighter type for the IJAF. Just like we have the P-38G, J and L, P-51B, P-51D and a myriad of other examples in game, there is no real reason why the Ki-43 III should be any different.
I know there is some argument about the production numbers but there is ample evidence that the Ki-43 III did serve in squadron numbers prior to December 1944. I posted in an earlier post just a few of the squadrons that were being equipped with the Ki-43 III in the late summmer/fall of 1944. These squadrons didn't receive the prototypes for testing, these were production Ki-43 IIIs out of the Tachikawa plant and 1st Army Air Arsenal and there were at least 5-6 more sentais and I think probably around 3-4 chutais that recieved the Ki-43 III. These were also crack IJAF squadrons based on the Chinese mainland, Formosa and the Philippines and later on the home islands. It wasn't until later that the kamikazi units get the Ki-43.
I can't find the thread anymore over at J-Planes but there was a thread that talked about the production of the Ki-43 and listed 1,000 Ki-43 IIIs built at Tachikawa and 49 built at 1st Army Air Arsenal. Problem is that a lot of records were destroyed by the Japanese so we may really never get an accurate production number or an accurate number of Ki-43 IIIs that reached IJAF units. One thing for certain though is that more than just prototypes did make their ways to IJAF units.
ack-ack
