More Japanese planes!!!

[oboe]

This is just a personal preference, but I've always liked the idea of the earlier Ki-61 armed with 4x 12.7mm guns. The Ki-61 probably needs to be re-modeled with a better flight model at the moment, but I've always though the guns could be improved.

Nose 20mm, wing 12.7mm is what we have now and it's very nice.
Nose 12.7mm and wing MG151/20 would be interesting (but not necessary)
Nose 12.7mm and wing 12.7mm would give an earlier version of the craft, plus it would be kind of fun.


I like flying wildcats, ponies, and so forth with 4x50cal, so personally I'd like to fly around with 4x12.7mm in the Ki. 

I've found the Ki.61 gun package to be very good, but would also like to see the different configurations, esp curious about the 4x12,7mm.  But I suspect what we have now is the best of the bunch, and the one I'd choose most often.

[bustr]

Ki-102b "Randy", 207 built. Probably won't even have to perk it.

General characteristics

Crew: 2
Length: 37 ft 7 in (11.45 m)
Wingspan: 51 ft 1 in (15.57 m)
Height: 12 ft 2 in (3.70 m)
Wing area: 366 ft? (34 m?)
Empty weight: 10,900 lb (4,950 kg)
Loaded weight: 16,000 lb (7,300 kg)
Powerplant: 2? Mitsubishi Ha-112-II Ru 14-cylinder radial engine, 1,500 hp (1,120 kW) each


Performance

Maximum speed: 310 kn, 360 mph (580 km/h)
Range: 1,100 nmi, 1,200 mi (2,000 km)
Service ceiling: 33,000 ft (10,000 m)
Power/mass: 2.4 kg/kW (5.4 lb/hp)

 
Armament

Guns: * 1? 57 mm (2.24 in) Ho-401 cannon~replaced in the 102a with a 37 mm (1.46 in) cannon, deleted in the 102c
2? 20 mm Ho-5 cannon~replaced in the 102c with 30 mm (1.18 in) cannons
1? 12.7 mm (0.50 in) Ho-103 machine gun~deleted in the 102a and 102c
Bombs: 2 ? 200 L (53 US gal) drop tanks or 2 ? 250 kg (551 lb) bombs

OR......................

The Ki-45 "Nick", predecessor of the Ki-102. About 1700 were built.

General characteristics

Crew: Two
Length: 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)
Wingspan: 15.02 m (49 ft 4 in)
Height: 3.70 m (12 ft 2 in)
Wing area: 32.0 m? (344 ft?)
Empty weight: 4,000 kg (8,820 lb)
Loaded weight: 5,500 kg (12,125 lb)
Powerplant: 2 ? Mitsubishi Ha-102 14-cylinder radial engines, 783 kW (1,050 hp) each
Performance

Maximum speed: 540 km/h (292 kn, 336 mph)
Range: 2,000 km (1,081 nmi, 1,243 mi)
Service ceiling: 10,000 m (32,800 ft)
Rate of climb: 11.7 m/s (2,300 ft/min)
Wing loading: 171.9 kg/m? (35 lb/ft?)
Power/mass: 0.26 kW/kg (0.16 hp/lb)
Armament


Ko: 1 ? 20 mm, 2 ? 12.7 mm (.50 in), 2 ? 7.92 mm (.312 in)
Otsu: 1 ? 37 mm (1.46 in), 2 ? 12.7 mm (.50 in), 1 ? 7.92 mm (.312 in)
Hei: 1 ? 37 mm (1.46 in), 1 ? 20 mm, 1 ? 7.92 mm (.312 in)
Tei: 1 ? 37 mm (1.46 in), 2 ? 20 mm
Bo: 1 ? 40 mm (1.57 in)

[Slash27]

pics bustr, pics!

[Mitsu.]

This is just a personal preference, but I've always liked the idea of the earlier Ki-61 armed with 4x 12.7mm guns. The Ki-61 probably needs to be re-modeled with a better flight model at the moment, but I've always though the guns could be improved.

Nose 20mm, wing 12.7mm is what we have now and it's very nice.
Nose 12.7mm and wing MG151/20 would be interesting (but not necessary)
Nose 12.7mm and wing 12.7mm would give an earlier version of the craft, plus it would be kind of fun.


I like flying wildcats, ponies, and so forth with 4x50cal, so personally I'd like to fly around with 4x12.7mm in the Ki. 

Agreed, 4x50cal version (Ki-61-I-Otsu aka Ki-61-I-b) would be good selection.

oboe, thanks, I'm finally back to the game!

[Arlo]

[Krusty]

Nah... Never would have happened. They had a few test airframes and they ran up the engines a few times, but even with a year and a half of production time the Germans were still having problems with those jet engines and production. There was not even a snowball's chance in hell the Japanese could build them in production because they couldn't even produce piston engines with the proper tolerances and metals to sustain power. Jet engines have much higher tolerance requirements and engineering precision.

Rockets? Sure... maybe. But Jumo clones? They must have been high to even think of it.

EDIT: You ever notice how it looks a heck of a lot like the Bf 109TL?

[Shifty]

Ki-102b "Randy", 207 built. Probably won't even have to perk it.

Wow first I've heard of that bird. Got something new to read up on.  

[Krusty]

That's because it saw no real service. It was stored in caves and underground on the mainland along with other airframes in preparation for the imminent US invasion force.

It was also only 12mph faster than a Bf110C-4, so it's not like it was any better than a Ki-45 or any of the other typical Japanese twins.

[Slash27]

Wow first I've heard of that bird. Got something new to read up on.  

Like you can read

[jimson]

The Kikka apparently did have one successful test flight.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/japan/nakajima_kikka.php

http://minijets.org/typo3/index.php?id=245&no_cache=1

"A second prototype was then nearing completion and manufacture of 18 further aircraft had started when, on 15 August, the entire programme was abandoned."

It's not impossible that a handful could have been produced had the war not ended when it did.

[Karnak]

That's because it saw no real service. It was stored in caves and underground on the mainland along with other airframes in preparation for the imminent US invasion force.

It saw some combat at Okinawa as I recall.

It was also only 12mph faster than a Bf110C-4, so it's not like it was any better than a Ki-45 or any of the other typical Japanese twins.

12mph faster than the Bf110C-4b, considering it was a strike aircraft not a fighter, is markedly superior to other Japanese twins.

Very low priority though due to how little combat it saw.

[mthrockmor]

Ki-100 looks promising. This story notes it was the best of the Japanese planes during WW2 and would beat the Ki-84 every time. I didn't see if it had self-sealing fuel tanks but I would guess it did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ki-100

Boo

[HighTone]

Ki-100 looks promising. This story notes it was the best of the Japanese planes during WW2 and would beat the Ki-84 every time. I didn't see if it had self-sealing fuel tanks but I would guess it did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ki-100

Boo

It did.

I still bet the pilots had more to do with the Ki100 "beating the Ki84 everytime" than the actuall plane itself.

[HighTone]

But still a big +1 for the Ki-100

[oboe]

I'm all for more Japanese aircraft, but I have a hard time beleiving the Ki.100 is better than the Ki.84. 

It seems more likely to me that it'll perform like a Zero that can dive well.    The Ki84 will have retain a top speed and rollrate advantage, and probably low speed manueverability edge with its butterfly flaps.

I'd like to see the 100 in game but not convinced about it's superiority over the Frank.  Hope we get the opportunity to match them against each other in the game someday though!