Book Review of
Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa Vol. II
Author: Dariusz Paduch
Kagero Books Monographs
English Version no. 3085
ISBN: 978-83-66673-93-9
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $37.00
English Version no. 3085
ISBN: 978-83-66673-93-9
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $37.00
HISTORY:
The Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa ("Peregrine falcon", "Army Type 1 Fighter" ) was a single-engine land-based tactical fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II.
The Allied reporting name was "Oscar", but it was often called the "Army Zero" by American pilots because it bore a certain resemblance to the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, the Imperial Japanese Navy's counterpart to the Ki-43.
Both aircraft had generally similar layout and lines, and also used essentially the same Nakajima Sakae radial engine, with similar round cowlings and bubble-type canopies (the Oscars' being distinctly smaller and having much less framing than the A6M).
While relatively easy for a trained eye to tell apart with the "finer" lines of the Ki-43's fuselage – especially towards the tail – and more tapered wing planform; in the heat of battle, given the brief glimpses and distraction of combat, Allied aviators frequently made mistakes in enemy aircraft identification in the heat of a dogfight, reportedly having fought "Zeros" in areas where there were no Navy fighters.
Like the Zero, the radial-engined Ki-43 was light and easy to fly and became legendary for its combat performance in East Asia in the early years of the war. It could outmaneuver any opponent, but did not initially have armor or self-sealing fuel tanks, and its armament was poor until its final version, which was produced as late as 1945.
Allied pilots often reported that the nimble Ki-43s were difficult targets but burned easily or broke apart with few hits. Total production amounted to 5,919 aircraft. Many of these were used during the last months of the war for kamikaze missions against the American fleet.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Crew: One
Length: 8.92 m (29 ft 3 in)
Wingspan: 10.84 m (35 ft 7 in)
Height: 3.27 m (10 ft 9 in)
Wing area: 21.4 m2 (230 sq ft)
Airfoil: root: NN-12 mod. (18%); tip: NN-12 mod. (8%)[61]
Empty weight: 1,910 kg (4,211 lb)
Gross weight: 2,590 kg (5,710 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 2,925 kg (6,449 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Nakajima Ha-115 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 970 kW (1,300 hp) for take-off
890 kW (1,200 hp) at 3,000 m (9,800 ft)
820 kW (1,100 hp) at 6,200 m (20,300 ft)
Propellers: 3-bladed metal constant-speed propeller
Maximum speed: 530 km/h (330 mph, 290 kn) at 4,000 m (13,000 ft)
Cruise speed: 440 km/h (270 mph, 240 kn)
Range: 1,760 km (1,090 mi, 950 nmi)
Ferry range: 3,200 km (2,000 mi, 1,700 nmi)
Service ceiling: 11,200 m (36,700 ft)
Time to altitude: 5,000 m (16,000 ft) in 5 minutes, 49 seconds
Wing loading: 121 kg/m2 (25 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 0.33 kW/kg (0.20 hp/lb)
Armament:
Guns: Ki-43-Ia: 2 × 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Type 89 machine guns, Ki-43-Ib: 1 × 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Type 89 machine gun + 1x 12.7 mm (0.500 in) Ho-103
Ki-43-Ic, IIa, IIb, II Kai and IIIa: 2 × 12.7 mm (0.500 in) Ho-103's in the forward fuselage with 270 rpg
Ki-43-IIIb: 2 × 20 mm (0.787 in) Ho-5 cannon
Bombs:
Ki-43-I: 2 × 15 kg (33 lb) bombs, Ki-43-II and III: 2 × 30 kg (66 lb) bombs or 2 × 250 kg (550 lb) bombs
optional - 2 × 200 l (53 US gal; 44 imp gal) drop tanks (all versions)
THE BOOK:
Kagero is based in Poland.
This book is of soft cover of 80 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows a color illustration of 2 Ki-43’s in flight. Both aircraft are dark-green over medium-grey undercarriages, with yellow leading edges on their wings. Their Japanese Air Force red roundels are on wide white bars in all 5 positions. Both have a narrow yellow fuselage band just in front of their tails. A yellow pointed design is on the Ki-43 in the foreground. Both are Ki-43-II version and were operated by the 47th Sentai, used for Tokyo defence in early 1944.
The book contains 144 black and white wartime photos.
These include the Ki’43 variants, pilots, Mitsubishi KI-21 “Sally” bombers, a destroyed British Hurricane Mk.IIb, a Kawasaki Ki-48 “Lily”, a British Brewster Buffalo, several photos of crashed and destroyed Ki-43s, a British Hurricane Mk. IIb from 268 Sqdn. RAF, a British pilot in front of his aircraft, a Dutch Martin B-10 bomber, a Curtiss P-40 operated by The Flying Tigers, a U.S. P-38 Lightning, a Ki-43 in captured U.S. markings and several Ki-43s used by the French after the war.
Color profile illustrations in the book show:
A 5-view of a Ki-43 -1 of the 11th Sentai, Burma, October 1942. This aircraft was the personal aircraft of the unit commander, Maj. K. Sighiur. It is dark-green with a light-green squiggle across the top of the wings and the elevators and rear half of the fuselage sides. White spinner, black cowling, yellow wing leading edges, narrow white fuselage band in front of the tail, Japanese red roundel, outline in white on the fuselage sides, with 2 wide white fuselage bands in front of it and a light grey undercarriage.
A side view of a Ki-43-II of the 33rd Hiko-Sentai 2nd Chutai, which was damaged and abandoned at Cyclops Air Field, New Guinea, first half of 1944. It is dark-green with tiny light-grey mottling over a light-grey undercarriage, yellow wing leading edges, black spinner, red Japanese roundel outlined in white on the fuselage sides and un-outlined under the wings. White fuselage number 5 , followed by a narrow white fuselage band, white arrow head design on rudder sides.
A side view of a Ki-43-II of the 54th Sentai, Kashiwabara airfield, on Paramushir Island, Kuril Island 1943. It is overall bare metal with dark green spot pattern camouflage, yellow wing leading edges, black anti-glare panel in front of the windshield, red spinner, red vertical stripe on rudder, white and red fuselage bands in front of the tail.
A side view of a Ki-43-II of 3rd Chutai, 23rd Sentai, Pilot Lt. Nakakazu Ozaki, Nanjing 1943. By the time of his death on 12-27-1943 he had scored 19 aerial victories. The aircraft is overall dark-green, above a light-grey undercarriage. Yellow wing leading edges, red Japanese roundel outlined in white on fuselage sides and un-outlined under the wings, narrow white fuselage bands bordering a wide red one in front of the tail and these bands repeated vertically on the rudder, followed by a large white no. 71.
A side view of a Ki-43-II of the Royal Thai Air Force, Don Muang airfield, Bangkok, Autumn-winter 1943. It is dark-green with light-green and white spot camouflage pattern, over light green undercarriage, red square with a white elephant on it on the rudder and under the wings.
The back cover shows 2 more color side-profile illustrations:
A Ki-43-I Hei z, 1st Sentai, Indochina, late 1942. It is overall dark-green, above a light-grey undercarriage. It has a black spinner, red un-outlined in white roundels under the wings, 3 dark-blue bent fuselage bands, followed by a white horizontal fuselage band and a dark-blue rudder flap with 2 horizontal white bars across it.
A Ki-43-1 z, 2nd Chutai, 50th Sentai, Chikara Katinigawa, Burma 1942. (Kagero did part of this unit description in Polish by mistake).
This is a neat book about the Japanese Oscar. It will be of great interest to modelers and aviation historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample.
Casemate is the N. American distributor of Kagero Books and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’ website at:
The Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa ("Peregrine falcon", "Army Type 1 Fighter" ) was a single-engine land-based tactical fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II.
The Allied reporting name was "Oscar", but it was often called the "Army Zero" by American pilots because it bore a certain resemblance to the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, the Imperial Japanese Navy's counterpart to the Ki-43.
Both aircraft had generally similar layout and lines, and also used essentially the same Nakajima Sakae radial engine, with similar round cowlings and bubble-type canopies (the Oscars' being distinctly smaller and having much less framing than the A6M).
While relatively easy for a trained eye to tell apart with the "finer" lines of the Ki-43's fuselage – especially towards the tail – and more tapered wing planform; in the heat of battle, given the brief glimpses and distraction of combat, Allied aviators frequently made mistakes in enemy aircraft identification in the heat of a dogfight, reportedly having fought "Zeros" in areas where there were no Navy fighters.
Like the Zero, the radial-engined Ki-43 was light and easy to fly and became legendary for its combat performance in East Asia in the early years of the war. It could outmaneuver any opponent, but did not initially have armor or self-sealing fuel tanks, and its armament was poor until its final version, which was produced as late as 1945.
Allied pilots often reported that the nimble Ki-43s were difficult targets but burned easily or broke apart with few hits. Total production amounted to 5,919 aircraft. Many of these were used during the last months of the war for kamikaze missions against the American fleet.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Crew: One
Length: 8.92 m (29 ft 3 in)
Wingspan: 10.84 m (35 ft 7 in)
Height: 3.27 m (10 ft 9 in)
Wing area: 21.4 m2 (230 sq ft)
Airfoil: root: NN-12 mod. (18%); tip: NN-12 mod. (8%)[61]
Empty weight: 1,910 kg (4,211 lb)
Gross weight: 2,590 kg (5,710 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 2,925 kg (6,449 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Nakajima Ha-115 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 970 kW (1,300 hp) for take-off
890 kW (1,200 hp) at 3,000 m (9,800 ft)
820 kW (1,100 hp) at 6,200 m (20,300 ft)
Propellers: 3-bladed metal constant-speed propeller
Maximum speed: 530 km/h (330 mph, 290 kn) at 4,000 m (13,000 ft)
Cruise speed: 440 km/h (270 mph, 240 kn)
Range: 1,760 km (1,090 mi, 950 nmi)
Ferry range: 3,200 km (2,000 mi, 1,700 nmi)
Service ceiling: 11,200 m (36,700 ft)
Time to altitude: 5,000 m (16,000 ft) in 5 minutes, 49 seconds
Wing loading: 121 kg/m2 (25 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 0.33 kW/kg (0.20 hp/lb)
Armament:
Guns: Ki-43-Ia: 2 × 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Type 89 machine guns, Ki-43-Ib: 1 × 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Type 89 machine gun + 1x 12.7 mm (0.500 in) Ho-103
Ki-43-Ic, IIa, IIb, II Kai and IIIa: 2 × 12.7 mm (0.500 in) Ho-103's in the forward fuselage with 270 rpg
Ki-43-IIIb: 2 × 20 mm (0.787 in) Ho-5 cannon
Bombs:
Ki-43-I: 2 × 15 kg (33 lb) bombs, Ki-43-II and III: 2 × 30 kg (66 lb) bombs or 2 × 250 kg (550 lb) bombs
optional - 2 × 200 l (53 US gal; 44 imp gal) drop tanks (all versions)
THE BOOK:
Kagero is based in Poland.
This book is of soft cover of 80 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows a color illustration of 2 Ki-43’s in flight. Both aircraft are dark-green over medium-grey undercarriages, with yellow leading edges on their wings. Their Japanese Air Force red roundels are on wide white bars in all 5 positions. Both have a narrow yellow fuselage band just in front of their tails. A yellow pointed design is on the Ki-43 in the foreground. Both are Ki-43-II version and were operated by the 47th Sentai, used for Tokyo defence in early 1944.
The book contains 144 black and white wartime photos.
These include the Ki’43 variants, pilots, Mitsubishi KI-21 “Sally” bombers, a destroyed British Hurricane Mk.IIb, a Kawasaki Ki-48 “Lily”, a British Brewster Buffalo, several photos of crashed and destroyed Ki-43s, a British Hurricane Mk. IIb from 268 Sqdn. RAF, a British pilot in front of his aircraft, a Dutch Martin B-10 bomber, a Curtiss P-40 operated by The Flying Tigers, a U.S. P-38 Lightning, a Ki-43 in captured U.S. markings and several Ki-43s used by the French after the war.
Color profile illustrations in the book show:
A 5-view of a Ki-43 -1 of the 11th Sentai, Burma, October 1942. This aircraft was the personal aircraft of the unit commander, Maj. K. Sighiur. It is dark-green with a light-green squiggle across the top of the wings and the elevators and rear half of the fuselage sides. White spinner, black cowling, yellow wing leading edges, narrow white fuselage band in front of the tail, Japanese red roundel, outline in white on the fuselage sides, with 2 wide white fuselage bands in front of it and a light grey undercarriage.
A side view of a Ki-43-II of the 33rd Hiko-Sentai 2nd Chutai, which was damaged and abandoned at Cyclops Air Field, New Guinea, first half of 1944. It is dark-green with tiny light-grey mottling over a light-grey undercarriage, yellow wing leading edges, black spinner, red Japanese roundel outlined in white on the fuselage sides and un-outlined under the wings. White fuselage number 5 , followed by a narrow white fuselage band, white arrow head design on rudder sides.
A side view of a Ki-43-II of the 54th Sentai, Kashiwabara airfield, on Paramushir Island, Kuril Island 1943. It is overall bare metal with dark green spot pattern camouflage, yellow wing leading edges, black anti-glare panel in front of the windshield, red spinner, red vertical stripe on rudder, white and red fuselage bands in front of the tail.
A side view of a Ki-43-II of 3rd Chutai, 23rd Sentai, Pilot Lt. Nakakazu Ozaki, Nanjing 1943. By the time of his death on 12-27-1943 he had scored 19 aerial victories. The aircraft is overall dark-green, above a light-grey undercarriage. Yellow wing leading edges, red Japanese roundel outlined in white on fuselage sides and un-outlined under the wings, narrow white fuselage bands bordering a wide red one in front of the tail and these bands repeated vertically on the rudder, followed by a large white no. 71.
A side view of a Ki-43-II of the Royal Thai Air Force, Don Muang airfield, Bangkok, Autumn-winter 1943. It is dark-green with light-green and white spot camouflage pattern, over light green undercarriage, red square with a white elephant on it on the rudder and under the wings.
The back cover shows 2 more color side-profile illustrations:
A Ki-43-I Hei z, 1st Sentai, Indochina, late 1942. It is overall dark-green, above a light-grey undercarriage. It has a black spinner, red un-outlined in white roundels under the wings, 3 dark-blue bent fuselage bands, followed by a white horizontal fuselage band and a dark-blue rudder flap with 2 horizontal white bars across it.
A Ki-43-1 z, 2nd Chutai, 50th Sentai, Chikara Katinigawa, Burma 1942. (Kagero did part of this unit description in Polish by mistake).
This is a neat book about the Japanese Oscar. It will be of great interest to modelers and aviation historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample.
Casemate is the N. American distributor of Kagero Books and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’ website at:
Highly recommended.