Four Japanese aircraft needed to fix the CT imbalance

[Karnak]

F4UDOA,

The big thing that the Ki-84 would bring to the table is a late war Japanese fighter that was produced in huge quantities and thus could not be relegated to perked and back field status like the N1K2-J.  An F4U-1D (the Ki-84-Ia's contemperary) with an altitude advantage would be able to handle the Ki-84 pretty well.  However, if the Ki-84 had the altitude advantage the F4U-1D is worse off than the Ki-84 in the prvious scenario was.  Co-alt all bets are off.  A well flown Ki-84 can gain the energy advantage, it out climbs and out accerates the F4U-1D.

The few veteran Japanese pilots left in 1944 who were flying Ki-84s and N1K2s regarded the F6F the same way they had regarded the F4F when flying A6M2s, as easy kills.

The single biggest difference between the Americans and Japanese in 1944 was pilot training.  The signifigance of that dwarfs the signifigance of all other factors combined.  The same was true for the Luftwaffe when compared with the USAAF and RAF, yet nobody complains that that fact is not modeled in the European Theatre CT setups by only giving the Germans their second rate equipment.  That is the argument I see being used against adding the competitive Japanese fighters and attack units. and in my not so humble opinion, its bunk.

[Kieran]

Karnak, you understand I am not lobbying against a Ki-84, only stating my preference of a/c in the CT? In the MA, there'd be only one ride to have.

[Samm]

What goes 438mph, has two 30mm and two 20mm cannon and can carry two 50kg bombs ?

Ki-83

[F4UDOA]

Heya Karnak,

The only problem I have with the KI-84 is what performance stats do you use? Will it be the 427MPH 100 Octane fuel bird or the 390MPH 88octane bird?

From the TAIC manual the KI-84 has  
sea level speed of 348MPH
21,000ft                 422MPH
30,000FT                396MPH

Sea level climb 3720FPM
20,000Ft           3290FPM

time to 20,000FT. 5.8min.

This is with 1970HP with 92 octane fuel plus methonal

This is clearly a superior A/C in the M/A however what will we get?

Also in the CT arena arena it would not be included in a 1943 scenario.

As an aside I have always felt that Japanese A/C are given the short end of the stick as far as performance goes. In one account of an extended dogfight Ira Kepford recalls being chased by Zekes(1943) at Sea Level in a chase that last for 20Minutes starting at 355Knots and ending at 275Knots with the Zekes still on his tail.  He survived by pulling a high G turn in which the closest pursuing attacker augered trying to follow. Kind of an oxymoron with the more maneuverable F4U and the fast pursuing Zekes huh.  In any case there are many anecdotal anomolies on both sides which only goes to show how close things really were and not how they are always portrayed to be.

[Karnak]

F4UDOA,

The 392mph number is, I believe, the speed the Japanese tests produced using their fuel, 88 octane.  Our N1K2 is modeled using inferior fuel, I see no reason to think that the Ki-84 will be any different.

Keep in mind that below 10,000ft the Japanese fuel isn't too much of a disadvantage, it just prevents them from getting good performance at high altitude.  Aslo keep in mind that the Ki-84, like the N1K2, will accelerate in a dive very well, which means that a slight altitude advantage for the Ki-84 can effectively mean that it is just as fast as an F4U-1D for the purposes of the fight.