It’s 1942. While the world is engulfed in war, a different kind of battle is about to unfold in a hidden corner of the Pacific. On a secluded Japanese airfield, five aircraft await: an imported German Messerschmitt Bf 109E, a captured American Curtiss P-40E, and three Japanese models- the Ki-43, Ki-44-I, and the newcomer, Ki-61.
Kawasaki’s latest creation, the Ki-61 Hien, was Japan’s first-ever model with a liquid-cooled inverted V engine. So unique is its design that Allied intelligence, mistaking it for a European model, had already dubbed it “Tony.”
While Kawasaki is confident in their groundbreaking design, top commanders at the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Headquarters remain skeptical. This competition is set to challenge their doubts.
As engines ignite, the sky transforms into an aerial arena. One by one, the aircraft leaps into the air, their pilots pushing machines to their limits. The Ki-61, powered by its 1,175 horsepower engine, begins to outclimb, outmaneuver, and outpace the other models in a series of tests.
With this, the doubt on the officers’ faces slowly gives way to outright awe.
Soon after, the Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien would be deployed throughout the Pacific Theater. The most un-Japanese-looking fighter was ready to take the skies by storm.
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The Japanese ran out of pilots! They made the training so basic, their graduates were unable to effectively fly high performance aircraft,
Anyone remember using the Tony in PS3 game Birds of Steel ?
Looks like a modernized version of the Bf109.
Ummmm, thumbnail?
Wasn't the original image a correct rendering? 🤨
To be fair, i think the B-29 did more extermination
"B-29 exterminador" and the thumbnail show German Soldiers and a Franch crashed plane…
The kI 100 was also a great plane.
I dont see the Thumbnail photo in the story- Bad to post a Non retentive thumbnail!
Unfortunate thumbnail pic and title yes (for a reasonable researched piece by an established blogger)
To my knowledge there are at least 3 restored KI-61s in existence – believe 1 is in flying condition (rebuilt in NZ) another being flight tested in Florida. So much design and adaptation to just become a kamikaze ramming weapon .. Crazy
Not Too Bad, Reminds Me Of The Heinkel He-112. Thank You.
Idk about B-29 exterminator
😮😨😱🤬😡 The thumbnail you chose for this video is actually a french plane, a Caudron (-Renault) C.714 and not a Ki-61. What the 🤯fact ?!?! are you doing? Ask an aviation historian, dude. 💥💥💥💥
It looks similar in many ways similar to the ME109. But it has that Japanese style added.
copied german tecnology
Since when did engines “ignite”?
The allies were SHHHHOCCCCKEDDDDDDD!!!! AIIIEIEIE!!!
Too little too late did nothing to change the course of the war
If you have to ram a B-29 to down it, you are not a B-29 exterminator. That is a 1 for 1 ratio. I would say a Me-163 or 262 were better at downing bombers even though it was B-17s vice B-29s.
It is interesting that Kawasaki had only license rights for the IJAAF. The Aichi concern had the rights for the IJNAF and the two concerns could not consult with each other.
Why is the thumbnail a clapped out air cooled baguette 😂
i bet they did not come up against the austrailian version of the mosquito
flying at 42000 feet at over 400 mph !
Bragging about how good these planes were is like a lot of bullshit , after all they didn't win the war now did they !!??
Mustangs & lightenings in the percific ?
To bad the Japanese like the Germans did not figure out until later in the war. Their early success could not be sustained over the extended combat. The evolution of Air combat and equipment could not be expanded.
I'm glad to hear both US and Australian aircraft mentioned. Australians often get overlooked in military matters when it comes to WW II
If the Japanese and Germans had the same engineering and manpower might as the US , we would all be speaking german now. Technologically Germany was miles ahead.
I have a repetitive complaint that many crews were lost to B29 defects. Curtis wright got the contract using a magnesium crankase so that the power to weight ration of JUST the engine was some number
For a few less bombs, there could have had an engine that did not burn through the main spar in 30 seconds. Never resolved cowl flaps and heating meant that the 29s often could not hold formation and flew in trail. Compare that to the Dauntless, meant to be pilot friendy, and to win a war, not just the contract
Had a model of one of these in the early 70s as a kid. It came in a two airplanes in a single box series. As I recall the Kawasaki Hien came with a P-47 Thunderbolt. I'm doubtful that those two planes saw each other in combat.
Amazing heroics on both sides😮
…en el video no se menciona que la modificación con motor radial Ki-100, se convirtió en uno de los mejores cazas japoneses al final de la guerra, sino el mejor, se fabricaron solo 374 aviones…
…in the video it does not mention that the Ki-100 radial engine modification became one of the best Japanese fighters at the end of the war, if not the best, only 374 aircraft were manufactured…
Basically a Japanese version of the German BF 109.