I would like to be Japanese, but unfortunately I am from Europe. I was planning a ke-go bomb
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Few simple ones:
-A7M2 with 4x Type 99 mark 2 model 5
-N1K1-Jc (With total of 600 rounds for 20mm it would fit well between N1K1-Ja and N1K2-J.)
-N1K3-A or N1K4-A (Slightly improved N1K2-J for carrier used and with 13.2mm nose guns. Possibly with 99-2-5 cannons as well.)
-Ki-100-Ib (don’t ask why)
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Thanks, I’ll have something to report. :D
Having a nicer looking model with the later canopy would be great.
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We could also get the Ki-61 with the cut-down canopy
I managed to find three interesting variants of the Ki-61: Ki-61-I kaid with 30 guns, Ki-61-IIb with four 20mm guns and Ki-61-I-wces which was the fastest version and had cooling in the wings
There aren’t any pictures of that Ki-61-I Tei with 30mm and we don’t know it’s ammo count or weight.
There is some speculated information about Ki-61-II variants which didn’t exist, though Ki-61-II prototype with larger wing likely had 4x20mm as fitting them was one goal of the new wing. Unfortunately there aren’t pictures and data about that either. There is this photo of the vapor cooled prototype, but once again we don’t know the weight or even what guns it had, if it had any at all. It was a test bed for Ki-64.
Spoiler
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It is simply a Ki-61-II kai with full view canopy. Not many of them were build as such. Oddly enough it didn’t get a separate designation like Ki-100s with different canopies.
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So it is Ki-61 with Ki-64’s water cooled system?
I really need it, it should be best Ki-61)
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I need it, as well as the Ki-61 III
Unfortunately that is also a made-up designation. Kawasaki tried making more powerful inline engines, but none of those apparently got further than bench testing.
I think it would be best to stick with planes which have solid information about them, instead of doing as many suggestions as possible. It’s also very limited how many WWII planes they are going to implement for Japan in a year, so we should think about which ones we really want out of those.
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That’s very true. Ki-64 and N1K4 are high on my priority list.
As for the Ki-61 III, I thought it was a retronym, but my reading of Japanese Wiki confused me. Perhaps a translation error?
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Ammunition count for the Ki-51’s 12.7 mm Ho-103 machine gun.
In October 1944, the Ki-51s of the 27th Flying Regiment, which participated in the support of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, carried 1200 rounds of ammunition. If we subtract 1020 rounds (15 x 68 round capacity magazine) for the flexible machine guns from this, we get 180 rounds for the fixed machine guns and 90 rounds for each gun. I think this number of rounds is a little low, but looking at the combat records of the 27th Sentai, they only consumed about 60 rounds at most on bombing and patrol missions, so this number of rounds may have been acceptable.
Of course, my calculations could be wrong. One could also consider that they reduced the number of rounds for the flexible machine gun and increased the number of rounds for the fixed machine gun. This source is not conclusive evidence.
| Aircraft type | Type 99 Assault |
|---|---|
| Aircraft registration | 1475 |
| Bomb type | 250 kg |
| Fuze type | Short delay |
| Number of bombs | 1 |
| MG ammo type | AP and Incendiary |
| Number of rounds | 1200 |
27th Flying Regiment 2nd Company Combat Diary September 1, 1944 - October 31, 1944
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One must remember the difficulties of Japanese factories at this point in the war. The Germans also reduced their shell consumption in 1944/45 because they had to save it. Thank you very much for your contribution and help :D
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That’d be nice. It looks much better with the cut-down canopy, too:
Nice and slender.
Ki-61-I Tei Kai would be even more overtiered than the regular Hei and Tei. Would be interesting but ultimately not a great addition, the Ki-61s don’t struggle with firepower.
Ki-61-II Otsu - same as above. Its issue isn’t firepower, its climb rate and weight. Speed too, to a lesser extent. Not saying no, but its not something I particularly want.
Evaporative cooling - just no, way too fragile. One hit from any caliber and you’re immediately cooking your engine.
Now, a Ki-64? That I would very much like to see, among others.
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The fixed machine guns were upgraded from 7.7 mm to 12.7 mm in November 1943, but there are sources that say the flexible machine guns were also upgraded from 7.7 mm to 7.92 or 12.7 mm.
The Ki-45-Kai Hei, which was deployed to the assault squadron as the successor to the Ki-51, was equipped with a 7.92 mm Type 98 machine gun as a flexible machine gun, so it is highly possible that the Ki-51 was also equipped with the same 7.92 mm machine gun.
The 7.92 mm Type 98 machine gun has a magazine capacity of 75 rounds. If the Ki-51 had 12 x flexible machine gun magazines, the number of rounds would be 900 rounds, while the 12.7 mm fixed machine guns could use 300 rounds, or 150 rounds for each gun. This underscores the hypothesis that upgrading from 7.7 mm to 12.7 mm would cut the number of rounds in half.
Sources
Spoiler
“From November 1943, the 7.7 mm fixed machine guns on both wings were upgraded to 12.7 mm Type 1, and the rear machine gun was upgraded to a Type 98 flexible gun.”
「昭和十八年十一月からは、両翼七・七ミリ固定機関銃を一式十二・七ミリに、後方機銃を九八式旋回銃に改められた。」
Magazine Maru, ed. 2011. Type 99 Assault Plane, Rabaul Air Battle Record (九九式襲撃機ラバウル空戦録). p.29
Spoiler
“Flexible guns were also replaced with 7.92 mm Type 98 flexible machine guns from November 1943 due to the demand for more armament. It is said that some squadrons also used a set of 12.7 mm Type 1 flexible machine guns.”
「旋回統も武装強化の要求により昭和18年11月から九八式7.92mm旋回機関銃に換装されたが、一部では一式12.7mm旋回機関砲も使用されたらしい。」
Magazine Maru, ed. 1999. “Type 99 Assault” Mechanism of Military Aircraft. p.77
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@tester188
You did a great job, but there are a few question marks. First of all, the Type 98 KM has completely different magazines than the Type 89 KM, so their number on board could have been different. The Type 89 machine gun uses disc magazines, and the Type 98 machine gun uses drum magazines, which changes the way they are mounted in the machine (type 89 magazines were mounted flat on the sides of the hull).One more question, what is the 12.7 type 1 heavy machine gun? The Japanese used the Ho-103 heavy machine gun, which had no “type” assigned to it, and the only mention of the Type 1 was the 7.92 caliber Te3 machine gun.
Thank you very much for your contribution and dedication to the ki-51
:D
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“Exploding Fuel Tanks: Saga of Technology That Changed the Course of the Pacific Air War”
This book has a drawing from US intelligence about the armor protection. It says pilot head, body and seat bottom armor were all 7mm. Their shapes and sizes are included. Unfortunately there isn’t as accurate data about the engine plates. They are said to have been 6.5mm.
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Is there any informative mentions about Fuel Tank fire extinguisher systems in this book?
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