The Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien was a land-based, single-seat, fighter aircraft. It was used by the Imperial Japanese Army's Air Service during World War II. Its prototype, the Type 3, Model 1, performed its first flight on December 20, 1941. It entered service in January 1942 as the Ki-61-I, which would be followed by the Ki-61-I-Otsu. With over 3,000 aircraft having been built by 1945, it was one of the most iconic Japanese combat plane of that armed conflict.
The Hien, or "Tony", as the Allied pilots called it, was a fast, streamlined, and maneuverable aircraft. It resembled the German Messerschmitt Bf 109. As a matter of fact, it was powered by a Japanese-built Daimler-Benz piston engine. The Kawasaki Hi-61 had scored many aerial victories against the Allied fighters until the irruption of the Grumman F6F Hellcat in skies over the Pacific. However, it would have the same fate as the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, being used as a disposable kamikaze aircraft at the end of the war.
Technical Characteristics
The Kawasaki Ki-61 was a single-seat, single-engine monoplane. It featured straight, cantilever low wing and conventional tail. Its fuselage was all-metal and its landing gear retractable. In the first version, the tail wheel was also retractable. The Hien was the first aircraft in the Pacific Theater to have armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, which had been so useful in Europe. In the same way as the American P-51, it featured an oil cooler radiator on the belly of fuselage, near the main wings.
Armament
The Ki-61-I was equipped with two 20-mm Ho-5 cannons, which were set up in the nose of aircraft. It was also armed with two 12.7-mm Ho-103 machine guns, which were mounted above the nose.
Specifications
Type: Fighter Aircraft
Length: 8.94 m (29 ft, 4 in)
Wingspan: 12 m (36 ft, 4 in)
Wing Area: 20 square meters (215 sq. ft)
Height: 3.7 m (12 ft, 2 in)
Power Plant: one Kawasaki Ha-40 (Daimler-Benz), inverted 'V' piston engine, which put out 1,180 Horse Power.
Maximum Speed: 590 km/h (366 mph)
Range: 600 km (365 miles)
Below, the Kawasaki Hi-61-I flying over the Korean peninsula in 1942.
The Hien in flight in 1943, over the Philippines.
