Originally posted by Raubvogel
I've been flying this plane exclusively this tour just to check it out and it's a sweet plane. I don't know much about it, but it seems like a reasonable request. I have a question about the Ho-5 cannons.
Raubvogel,
Sorry I missed your questions...
Originally posted by Raubvogel
Are they the Browning copies that were made larger?
Yes, they are derived from the Browning machine guns. If you refer to my thread,
Info on the Ki-61 The Ho-5, like the Ho-103 (Type 1 12.7mm fixed mount machine guns), was a 20mm cannon derived from the American Browning design.
and website,
The WWII Fighter Gun Debate The Army used the 20mm Ho-5, that was derived from the Browning .50, and was probably the best Japanese fighter gun of the war. It replaced the older Type 97, which had been derived from an anti-tank gun. The Ho-5 was lighter than the older gun, but the cartridge case was reduced from 125mm to 94mm, and muzzle velocity suffered accordingly.
Originally posted by Raubvogel
And do you have any ballistic info on them??
The Ho-5 shoots at 850 rounds per minute with a muzzle velocity of 750 m/s according to
The WWII Fighter Gun Debate. I think Mr. Tony Williams will be a better source on this topic.
Originally posted by Raubvogel
Was the engine a copy built DB601 or 603?
As stated in the
Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien, the engine used for the Hien is the Ha-40, a licensed version of the DB601A.
Most Japanese fighter aircraft had been powered by air-cooled radial engines. However, the German Daimler-Benz DB 601A liquid-cooled, inverted-vee engine (which powered the Bf 109E) had attracted considerable interest in Japan, and a license had been acquired in April 1940 by the Kawasaki Kokuki Kogyo K.K. (Kawasaki Aircraft Engineering Co Ltd) to build the German engine in Japan under the designation Ha-40. A Japanese technical team brought back a set of blueprints of the DB 601A and a few examples to serve as production patterns. The first prototype Ha-40 engine was ready in July of 1941, and the first examples began to roll off Kawasaki's Akashi engine production line in the fall of 1941.
Well, that's it! Kindly let me know if you have any other questions. I hope HTC would correct this issue soon.
