General info for Ki-61-Ib

• Country USA
• Vehicle role Fighter
• Rank 2

• Battle rating in
  • arcade battles 2.3
  • realistic battles 3.3
  • simulator battles 3

Show more

Wiki info about Ki-61-Ib

Official War Thunder wiki

Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien Army Type 3 Model 1Ko (NATO reporting name: Tony) single-engine army fighter An all-metal monoplane with an enclosed cockpit and a retractable landing gear system, including tail wheel. It was created by the design bureau of Kawasaki Company, under the direction of Takeo Doi. The aircraft had as its power unit a German-licensed Daimler-Benz DB 601Aa twelve-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine manufactured by Kawasaki Company under the designation of Ha-40. A Ki-61 prototype got off the ground for the first time in December 1941. Full-scale production started in the summer of 1942. The aircraft was accepted for service with the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force as the Type 3 Hien ("Swallow") fighter in the spring of 1943. The Hien's combat deployment began in June 1943, on New Guinea. The Ki-61 became one of few Japanese production planes equipped with liquid-cooled engines. The Hien stood out so much in its appearance and high flight characteristics among Japanese fighters of that period of the war that the Americans at first refused to identify it as a Japanese design. After receiving the first reports about the new Japanese fighter with a liquid-cooled engine, the American intelligence service considered it a licensed replica of the German Messerschmitt Bf 109E fighter, so Mike was chosen as its NATO reporting name. However, after a more detailed study of pilot reports, intelligence analysts concluded that the new fighter was more similar to the Italian MC.202 Folgore. Thus, the Americans chose an Italian NATO reporting name, Tony, for the new Japanese fighter. In December 1943, the US Marine Corps landed at Cape Gloucester on the island of New Britain. After capturing the temporary Japanese airfield, the Marine Corps discovered a hidden Ki-61 Model 1Ko fighter (serial number 263) from the 68th Sentai produced in April 1943. The aircraft had been abandoned by the Japanese due to a number of engine malfunctions which were not repairable in the field. The aircraft was meticulously inspected by officers of the US Army's Technical Intelligence and sent to Australia, where it was restored to airworthy condition and had USAAF markings applied to it. Later, the Hien was thoroughly tested in the Technical Air Intelligence Center at NAS Anacostia. It was noted in the report on the test results that the aircraft was exceptionally easy to pilot and that it behaved well practically in all modes of flight and during all manoeuvres, so it represented quite a formidable weapon in the hands of a sufficiently qualified pilot.