Mitsubishi Ki-109 Prototype no.1

[Grzegames]

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Mitsubishi Ki-109 prototype no.1 (三菱 キ-109 特殊防空戦闘機試作一号機)
Prototype number 1 Ki-109 is a Japanese prototype air defense fighter created in 1944. The aircraft had defensive armament such as the Ki-67.
History
In 1943, the Japanese army decided that a new interceptor was needed, preferably heavily armed. It was decided to use the Ki-67 aircraft, which was very maneuverable for its size and very durable. At the beginning, it was planned to build the Ki-109a with two cannons: the Ho-203 firing obliquely upwards and the Ki-109b with a searchlight and radar, it was planned that the planes would complement each other. However, at the request of Major Sakamoto, the design was changed. He proposed to mount a 75 mm cannon in the nose of the aircraft to destroy the B-29 with one shot from a safe distance. The commanders of the Japanese army agreed to this plan and in early 1944 ordered the development of a 75 mm automatic gun (the future Ho-501), but this project quickly found complications, so it was decided to use a modified Type 88 75 mm gun. On March 6, 1944, a decision was made to mount the Type 88 gun on the Ki-67 aircraft (from then on called the Ki-109). On March 20, 1944, technical drawings of the new aircraft were prepared and work began. On March 31, the modified Type 88 gun was ready, and on May 2, it was reported to the Army command. Then, on May 11 to 13, the operation of the gun was tested at low temperatures, during which no problems were encountered. From May 26 to 29, fire tests of the gun not mounted on the aircraft were carried out, 60 shells were fired. On September 5, 1944, a decision was made to mount a modified Type 88 gun on a Ki-109 and conduct ground and air tests. From 8 to 10 September 1944, ground tests were carried out, during which 24 shells were fired, the strength of the gun and hull mounts was tested. From 11 to 16 September, test shots were carried out in flight, 39 rounds were fired, during these tests the strength of the gun mounting, the hull, the level of vibration and things related to the operation of the gun were checked. However, it was noticed that the aircraft had poor performance in high-altitude flight, so it was decided to remove the defensive armament in the second prototype and serial aircraft and leave only the rear gunner. Later, the aircraft was equipped with the Toku Ro Mk.1 of 500kgf thrust engine, which was supposed to help it reach high altitudes faster, but after ground tests it was found that the performance was still insufficient and this solution was not tested in flight. The further fate of the Ki-109 prototype number 1 is unknown.

Photos of the Ki-109 prototype number 1

Art about the first Ki-109 prototype

Model first prototype Ki-109

Technical description
The pedestrian prototype of the Ki-109 is similar to the Ki-109 from the game, but there are a few differences between them, which I will describe here.

1. The aircraft is equipped with a dorsal turret and side gunners
2. Aircraft for a 7-person crew (pilot, radio operator, Type 88 gun loader/navigator and 4 defensive gunners)
3. The aircraft is equipped with a bomb bay
4. Later, the Toku Ro Mk.1 engine was installed

Technical sketches

Comparison of the Ki-109 prototype with other versions of the Ki-67

Modified Type 88 75mm gun
The first prototype of the Ki-109 is armed with a modified Type 88 75 mm gun. It can fire 8 types of projectiles:

• Type 90 Sharp Bullet - a 6.52 kg high-explosive shell

Type 90 Sharp Bullet

• Type 90 shell - a 6.35 kg high-explosive shell

Type 90 shell

• Type 94 high-explosive shell - 6.08 kg high-explosive shell

Type 94 high-explosive shell

• Type 95 armor-piercing shell - a 6.2 kg armor-piercing fragmentation (AP-HE) shell. Armor Penetration 95mm/100 m , 91mm/500mm , 84mm/1000m

Type 95 armor-piercing shell

• Type 1 armor-piercing shell - armor-piercing fragmentation (AP-HE) shell. Mass unknown, penetration unknown
• Type 4 Armor-Piercing Missile - Armor-Piercing (AP) Missile. Mass unknown, penetration unknown
• Type 90 anti-aircraft missile - A high-explosive shell with a different fuse. Weight 8.96 kg

Type 90 anti-aircraft missile

• Type 90 Luminous Projectile - 7.11 kg Luminous Projectile

General characteristics

• Crew: 7
• Length: 17,95 m
• Wingspan: 22,50 m
• Height: 5,80 m
• Wing area: 65,85m2
• Empty weight: 7620 kg
• Gross weight: 10980 kg
• Powerplant: 2 × Mitsubishi Ha104 18-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 1,400 kW (1,900 hp) each for take-off
• Powerplant: 1 x Toku Ro Mk.1 engine of 500kgf thrust (mounted in the bomb bay (optional))
• Propellers: 4-bladed constant-speed metal propellers

Performance

• Maximum speed: 550 km/h
• Cruise Speed: 400 km/h
• Range: 2200 km
• Service ceiling: 12500 m
• Rate of climb: 8,2 m/s

Armament

1. Gun

• 1 x Type 88 75mm Nose Cannon (15 rounds)
• 1 x 20 mm Ho-5 cannon on the back (300 rounds)
• 3 x 12.7mm Ho-103 machine gun in side and tail turrets (500 rounds)

2. Bombs

• 15 x 50 kg bombs (?)
• 8 x 100 kg bombs (?)
• 3 x 250 kg bombs (?)
• 1 x 500 kg bombs (?)
• 1 x 800 kg bombs (?)

Summary
The first prototype of the Ki-109 is an interesting aircraft for Japan in War Thunder. It is an improved version of the Ki-109 for its valuable weight, greater defensive capabilities and probably bomb armament. This aircraft would be a great complement to the Japanese CAS, which is very much needed. 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109 (航空機) - Wikipedia
八八式七糎野戦高射砲 - Wikipedia
Ki-109 Hiryu Mitsubishi (airpages.ru)
(1) Mitsubishi Ki-67 Variants and Derivatives (Ki-69, 109, 167) | Secret Projects Forum
Mitsubishi Ki-109 - interceptor (aviastar.org)
Уголок неба ¦ Mitsubishi Ki-109 (airwar.ru)
Micubiši Ki 109 prototyp 01 a 02 : Micubiši (valka.cz)
Japanese Aircraft of WWII: Mitsubishi Ki-109
キ109 (きいちまるきゅう)とは【ピクシブ百科事典】 (pixiv.net)
三菱Ki-109 特殊防空战斗机与75毫米Ho-501航炮_凤凰网历史_凤凰网 (ifeng.com)
TM 9-1985-5; 7-cm (75-mm) H.E.-A.A. Long-Pointed Projectile (michaelhiske.de)
TM 9-1985-5; Type 90 7-cm (75-mm) H.E. Long-Pointed Projectile (michaelhiske.de) TM 9-1985-5; Type 94 7-cm (75-mm) High-Explosive Projectile (michaelhiske.de)
TM 9-1985-5; Type 95 7-cm (75-mm) Armor-Piercing High-Explosive Projectile (michaelhiske.de)
TM 9-1985-5; Type 38 7-cm (75-mm) Shrapnel Projectile (michaelhiske.de)

Book sources

• The Xplanes of Imperial Japanese Army & Navy 1924-1945 page 150
  The Xplanes of Imperial Japanese Army and Navy 1924-45 | PDF (scribd.com)

Additional sources

And at the end good luck pilots, omaneko is counting on you

[jon_man1199]

A +1 from me! Would be neat to see grouped with the Ki-109 we already have

[PercussionCap]

+1, but the shell list for the 75mm could be better formatted.

[Grzegames]

It was my first time making such a list and I had no idea for it

[JamesPond1200]

Omaneko-chan~! +1 for a cool plane and a cute mascot!

[かがり]

+1 For the plane! and Omaneko-Kun is a guy (Not trans or femboy (People have gotten mixed up over it))

[Noveos_Republic]

Ki-109 with bombs and turrets? Yes please.

+1

[Noveos_Republic]

Also the shell with penetration of 95mm/100 m is kinda nutty. I want it

[Grzegames]

Unfortunately, I did not find information about the penetration of other shells for the Type 88 gun

[Noveos_Republic]

If you have dimensions and muzzle velocity, we can use Gaijin’s calculator

[SinisterIsRandom]

One of the words you used was Missile. Considering you wrote it as Type-90 Luminous Projectile, chances are it is the Bee-Hive Shells. Missile would not be correct.

[Grzegames]

As I wrote in the suggestion, there may be errors in it because English is not my main language.

[SinisterIsRandom]

I know you do, I read everything I’m just suggesting to change the word. Cause I speak fluent English and the shell you are referring to is most certainly the Bee-Hive shell. Commonly known on the Yamato. Cause Japan didn’t have any other shells for this.

[Grzegames]

However, according to sources, it was not a fragmentation projectile, but an illuminating one for night fighting. The Type 88 gun was used in the same way as the German Flak 18. To fight against planes, enemy infantry and vehicles.

[SinisterIsRandom]

Considering the Bee Hive shells tended to illuminate the sky, both figuratively and quite literally, I would assume that is what it was talking about, as giving it Flak Shells that the Germans used would make little to no sense from an Aerial Standpoint however if you were utilizing a bee hive shell even in mid-air it would be far deadlier than from below and illuminate the sky. So I don’t know, cause it seems like your resources had things translated but since English can be complicated on what words make sense, due to different English Variants per nation, it’s possible it was translated several times over per type of English and it all got mushed together. Or the more likely possibility is that its just poor translation.

[Grzegames]

八八式七糎野戦高射砲

[SinisterIsRandom]

If its Wikipedia, you take it with a massive grain of salt, while other language versions of it tend to be more accurate, they aren’t always correct on things.

[Grzegames]

It is quite difficult to find any information about ammunition for the Type 88 cannon, and the Japanese Wiki presented information that was confirmed by American intelligence after the war

[Grzegames]

On the Enlisted forum it is said that the Type 88 gun could have used ammunition from the Type 90 field gun, which is an interesting possibility, but there are no sources there to support this thesis.

Japanese use of Anti Air Guns for AT purposes

[Teh0]

Japanese 75mm projectiles are listed with good detail in these two documents:
TM 9-1985-5, Japanese Explosive Ordnance 2
CINCPAC Bulletin 85-45, Japanese Projectiles Vol 1

Some of the projectiles used by Type 90 field gun were also used by Type 88 AA-gun. Perhaps all of them were possible in theory, but not used in practice. Purpose build AA rounds are only listed for Type 88.

Just couple of examples, since there are a lot of 75mm projectiles.

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