- Yes
- No
Kawasaki Ki-45 (川崎 キ45)
The Kawasaki Ki-45 is a Japanese prototype heavy fighter, the progenitor of the Kawasaki Ki-45 Kai (the Ki-45 in the game is the Ki-45 Kai). These aircraft were built in 1939 and 1940. A total of 11 prototype Ki-45s were built, but this suggestion applies only to the first six prototypes powered by the Nakajima Ha-20 Otsu engine.
History
In March 1937, the Japanese army, inspired by other countries, commissioned Kawasaki (Ki-38), Nakajima (Ki-37) and Mitsubishi (Ki-39) to produce a twin-engine heavy fighter. The aircraft was required to be used to escort bombers, which required a long range (over 400 km) and required similar capabilities as single-engine fighters. Engineer Isamu Imachi was appointed for the project at the Kawasaki plant. By October 1937, it was completed and a mock-up for aerodynamic research, but the army was not satisfied with the planned performance and discontinued the Ki-37, Ki-38 and Ki-39 projects. In December 1937, new requirements for the heavy fighter were issued to Kawasaki, and they were as follows:
- The aircraft was to be a two-engine, two-seater heavy escort fighter
- The aircraft has a performance of 540 km/h
- The aircraft was required to be able to stay in the air for 4 hours 40 minutes
- The armament was to consist of a fixed cannon (20mm), two fixed machine guns (7,7mm) and a single mobile machine gun for self-defense.
In January 1938, work on the Ki-45 began at the Kawasaki plant, and Isamu Imachi again became the chief designer. This task was difficult due to the fact that Kawasaki had never produced twin-engine fighters, but by October 1938 work on the project was completed. In January 1939, the first prototype of the Ki-45 (Ki-45.01) was ready. In November 1939, the Ki-45.01 went for tests, in which it came out badly. It turned out that the plane was as much as 60 km/h slower than the required speed. In addition, there were problems with engine power and its failures, with the chassis and a lot of other problems. These problems were tried to be patched in subsequent prototypes (Ki-45.02, Ki-45.03, Ki-45.04, Ki-45.05, Ki-45.06), but there were still a lot of problems. In April 1940, the Kawsaki Ki-45 project was taken over by Takeo Doi and he decided to replace the engine with the more reliable and more powerful Nakajima Ha-25 (continued in the Ki-45 Type 1 suggestion).
Kawasaki Ki-38 mock-up
Construction description
The Kawasaki Ki-45 is a heavy medium-wing fighter with retractable landing gear. The plane is of metal construction. The aircraft is equipped with two air-cooled nine-cylinder Nakajima Ha-20 Otsu radial engines with a take-off power of 537 kW (730 hp), which drive three-bladed propellers with a diameter of 2,780 mm. All Ki-45 prototypes (Ki-45.01-06) differ in engine cowlings and the way the landing gear was retracted (Ki-45.01 and 02 had manually retractable landing gear), and from Ki-45.03 electrically). The aircraft is armed with two fixed Type 89 7.7mm machine guns in the nose, a fixed 20mm Ho-3 cannon in the fuselage and a movable Type 89 7.7 machine gun in the rear gunner’s position.
General characteristics
- Crew: 2
- Length: 10,26 m
- Wingspan: 14,50 m
- Height: 3,57 m
- Wing area: 29,03 m2
- Empty weight: 2500 kg
- Gross weight: 3750 kg
- Maximum Take-off Weight: 4228 kg
- Powerplant: 2 x Nakajima Ha-20 Otsu, air-cooled nine-cylinder radial engines with a take-off power of 537 kW (730 hp)
- Propellers: Three-bladed propellers with a diameter of 2,780 mm
Performance
- Maximum speed: 479 km/h
- Cruising speed: 349 km/h
- Range: 1750 km
- Maximum Range: ?
- Service ceiling: ?
- Climb Rate: ?
- Rate of climb: 10,2 min to 4645 m
Armament
- 2 x Type 89 7.7mm Fixed Machine Guns in the nose
- 1 x Ho-3 20mm Fixed Cannon Under the Belly (100 rounds)
- 1 x Type 89 7.7mm movable machine gun in rear gunner position
Special thanks
Summary
The Kawasaki Ki-45 is an interesting aircraft for Japan in War Thunder. This aircraft would be a useful low-tier heavy fighter that would be a good complement to the Ki-45 Kai. The Kawasaki Ki-45 can also be included in the game as a Premium aircraft or events. I encourage you to discuss in the comments and to share your own knowledge on this subject.
Finally, I apologize for the linguistic and logical errors because unfortunately English is not my main language and I had to use google translator.
Internet sources
キ45 (航空機) - Wikipedia
キ38 (航空機) - Wikipedia
二式複座戦闘機 - Wikipedia
Kawasaki Ki 45.02 (prototyp) : Kawasaki
Kawasaki Ki-45 - Japan - War Thunder - Official Forum
Kawasaki Ki-45 Projects, Prototypes & Variants | Secret Projects Forum
Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu (Dragon Slayer) ‘Nick’
Kawasaki Ki-45 kai Toryū - Portal Militarny
Kawasaki Ki-45
Уголок неба ¦ Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu
Book sources
- FAOTW 21 Ki-45 Toryu Army Type 2 Fighter | PDF
- The Xplanes of Imperial Japanese Army and Navy 1924-45 page 30-32
The Xplanes of Imperial Japanese Army and Navy 1924-45 | PDF - 026 Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu Army Type 2 Two-Seat Fighter | PDF
- Topdrawings_-_The_Kawasaki_Ki-45_quot_Toryu_quot | PDF
- Ki-45 Toryu Kawasaki | PDF
- Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War page 93-102
Thank you for reading the suggestion, see you in the next one. Good luck pilots
