U.S. Navy. Via Francillon (1979)
Nakajima Ki-43-Ia Hayabusa ("Peregrine Falcon") “Oscar”
| Dimensions | 37'6" by 29'0" by
10'9" 11.43m by 8.84m by 3.28m |
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| Weights | 3483-5696 lbs 1580-2584 kg |
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| Wing area | 237 square feet 22.0 square meters |
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| Maximum speed | 308 mph at 13,125
feet 496 km/h at 4000 meters |
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| Cruise speed | 199 mph at 8,200 feet 320 km/h at 2500 meters |
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| Service ceiling | 38,500 feet 11,700 meters |
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| Power plant | 1 950 hp Nakajima Ha-25 14-cylinder radial engine driving a two-pitch two-bladed Hamilton-type metal propeller. | ||
| Armament | 2 7.7mm Type 89 Model 2 machine guns in nose | ||
| External stores |
2 15 kg (33 lb) bombs under the wings | ||
| Range | Maximum 745 miles (1200 km) |
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| Production | A total of 5919
Ki-43s were produced as follows: |
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| Nakajima Hikoki K.K. at Ota: | |||
| 13
Ki-43 prototypes and service trial (1938-12 to 1940-9) 716 Ki-43-I (1941-4 to 1943-2) 8 Ki-43-II prototypes and service trials (1942-2 to 1942-8) 2492 Ki-43-II (1942-11 to 1944-10) 10 Ki-43-III prototypes (1944-5 to 1945-8) |
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| Tachikawa Hikoki K.K. (Tachikawa) | |||
| 2629
Ki-43-II and Ki-43-IIIa (1943-5 to 1945-8) 2 Ki-43-IIIb prototypes (1945) |
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| Tachikawa Dai-Ichi Rikugun Kokusho (Tachikawa) | |||
| 49 Ki-43-IIa (1942-10 to 1943-11) | |||
| Variants |
The Ib replaced one of the 7.7mm nose machine guns with a 12.7mm Type 1 and the Ic replaced both. The IIa introduced 13mm head and back armor
for the pilot and rudimentary self-sealing fuel tanks. The IIb used a Ha-115
engine, pushing the maximum speed to 329 mph (529
km/h). Its
range was greatly extended, to 1095 miles (1760km) normal or 1990 miles
(3200km) maximum. The III used a 1250hp Ha-112 pushing the maximum speed to 358 mph at 21,920 feet (576km/h at 6680 meters.) The IIIb replaced the 12.7mm with two 20mm Ho-5 cannon. |
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The Oscar was just coming into
production at the time of Pearl
Harbor and first entered combat over Malaya
and Burma. Thanks in part to its
"butterfly" combat flaps, it was very maneuverable and a
deadly dogfighter, proving an unpleasant surprise to Allied pilots. It
soon became the most feared Japanese aircraft in Southeast Asia.
However, it was badly undergunned and as
fragile as most
other Japanese fighters. The initial armament of two rifle-caliber
machine guns was rapidly upgraded to two heavy machine guns, but this
was still inadequate in comparison with Allied fighters carrying at
least four heavy machine guns. The -II
had some armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, but still tended to
disintegrate if
it stumbled into 0.50 caliber fire from an Allied
aircraft.
Army test pilots initially criticized the design failing to match the maneuverability of the Nate, which prompted the addition of the butterfly flaps. The Japanese Army was sufficiently pleased with the Oscar to attempt to set up two more production facilities. However, there were not enough skilled personnel at Tachikawa Dai-Ichi Rikugun Kokusho (Tachikawa First Army Air Arsenal) and production was halted after a small number of airframes were assembled from components. The production facility at Tachikawa Hikoki K.K. was more successful, and more Oscars were produced than any other Japanese fighter model except the Zero.
A small number were supplied to the puppet Thai government. Towards the end of
the war, when it was superseded by improved fighter designs, the Oscar
was used extensively in kamikaze
service.
In many respects the Oscar resembled an Army version of the Zero, having similar strengths and weaknesses. However, it was even lighter and more maneuverable. On the other hand, the Oscar was a full 40 miles per hour (60 kilometers per hour) slower than the Zero, making it slower than most Allied fighters. As one fighter pilot told Bergerud,
You'd be lucky to get one Immelmann out of a Tony starting from an initial flight attitude, whereas an Oscar, it really could do a double, and I saw it happen too many times. I'm not too sure that a Zero, unless he had proper conditions set up, maximum throttle, and all-out level flight, could do it. But I saw an Oscar to several double Immelmanns, even topped off by a hammerhead stall. That's pretty fancy to watch. It was an enormously maneuverable airplane. The Oscar was designed to be an army fighter for the Manchurian and Chinese theaters. It had great maneuverability but with its armament of two machine guns, it wasn't too far from the Sopwith Camel era in some ways.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2007-2008 by Kent G. Budge. Index
