Ki-43-III ko (China)

Description

The ␗Ki-43-III ko Hayabusa(Falcon), with Allied codename of Oscar, represented the captured Ki-43 by National Revolutionary Air Force. After the total outbreak of 2nd Sino-Japanese War, IJAAS deployed their Ki-43 in Mainland China. Used by the 64th Air Squadron, the Ki-43s were able to score some victories on Sino-US forces during their deployment. Later in April 1942, the Chinese Expeditionary Force (中國遠征軍) captured a Ki-43-Ic which has been flown by Yasuda Yoshito (安田義人). After the end of war, ROCAF obtained the remaining Ki-43s in China, mostly at Nanjing as the supplement fighters before new US-built fighters joined them. They were decommissioned in 1946 while the Communist forces captured eight Ki-43s at Northeastern China and been used as trainer aircraft like many other captured Japanese fighters.^[1]

Introduced in Update 1.91 "Night Vision" alongside with the Chinese tech-tree, this variant of Ki-43 featured a more powerful engine as demanded by IJAAS for better dive speed; while the firepower is still rather poor with only two 12.7 mm nose machine guns, players could still enjoy its excellent maneuverability even against fighters from the country it was once served in - Japan.

General info

Flight performance

Details

Survivability and armour

• 12 mm steel - behind pilot
• 12 mm steel - pilot headrest

Modifications and economy

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Ki-43-III ko (China) is armed with:

• 2 x 12.7 mm Ho-103 machine guns, nose-mounted (250 rpg = 500 total)

The Ki-43-III ko is armed with a pair of nose-mounted 12.7 mm machine guns with 250 rounds of ammunition per gun. While this armament is nothing particularly special it is reasonably effective, and better than some comparable aircraft. The nose-mounted position of the guns makes them easier to aim and means that you do not need to worry about convergence. Depending on personal preference either the air targets or stealth ammunition belt is typically best to use.

Usage in battles

In all modes, the Ki-43 can perform both BnZ fighting and turnfighting with the correct opponent. It can easily accelerate to 500 km/h in a dive while still having responsive controls. However its speed retention is quite poor and will lose lots of speed as soon as you level out. For turnfighting, you can out-turn most monoplanes and almost all heavy fighters/attackers even without combat flaps deployed, but never turn with Spitfires and Zeros. Note that this aircraft will experience severe rudder lockup when faster than around 450 km/h, resulting in awkward aiming adjustments if the target manoeuvres, so you need to cut throttle appropriately to control your speed.

While having sufficient flight characteristics, the Ki-43 is extremely fragile and can get critically damaged by almost all guns. From the hard-hitting M2 Browning to the fast-firing MG 15, any gun can badly hurt the Ki-43 especially on the engine, fuel tanks, and pilot which can always lead to a later crash. Before attacking try to get an altitude advantage and perform deflection shots. To maximise the damage aim for their wings and engines, as the fuselage usually soaks up lots of bullets. Only fire when the target passes in front of your guns. This short window might seem inadequate to do anything... and it usually is, unfortunately. The slow velocity, light projectiles and low one-second burst mass usually guarantee no critical damage. However sometimes it only takes one bullet to set the target aflame, if you are lucky.

• In Simulator, the Ki-43 is overall a decent plane. It has very forgiving characteristics such as good over-the-nose visibility, a clear bubble canopy without much framing and good backwards visibility. This increases your chance of spotting, tracking, and/or dodging since you can see targets from almost every direction with ease (except the underside, of course). It is recommended to set keybind for moving your head vertically to make full use of the great forward vision in a dogfight. However, its wings are located directly below the cockpit meaning that you cannot see what is below your sides which can lead to you losing track of the enemy. You should get used to searching towards your 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 o'clock, avoiding the wings.
• Note that when taking off the Ki-43 will shift severely to the left due to the propeller torque, so it is recommended to set keybinds for left and right brakes to effectively control your direction on the runway. Using rudder alone will not work at low speed and you will either circle around or lose control and crash into nearby structures like tents/hangars.
• Landing is very beginner-friendly too. It is able to decelerate quickly while also having low stall speed, allowing you to quickly slow down and descend onto the runway. Takeoff and landing flaps do not lift up the nose a lot so you can easily remain overall parallel to the ground. It also performs great when braking as its nose will not usually dip into the ground, so you can keep braking until it fully stops (given that you deflect elevators fully upwards) which is vital for preparing the next fight quickly.
• It has very good handling at most speeds. It does not wobble a lot which is an advantage over the biplanes and early monoplane fighters, making it easier to smooth the aim. You should familiarise the shape of those that you should not turn with: the Spitfires have long, straight nose with an inline engine, rather large and elliptical wings. The Zeros have an overall cylindrical fuselage that merges into a pointy tail after the stabilisers, a radial engine and are usually painted white (early models). If you see them on your tail try outrunning them by diving at around -40 degrees. The Ki-43 still remains responsive handling at 500 km/h, but its speed retention is poor, meaning it will start to lose speed quickly and the enemy might catch up. If you are near a friendly airfield, great. If not, then hope for the best and run towards the friendly side. Don't forget to pitch up and down a little to mess up their aim, the early Spitfires and A6M only have a 60-round drum per cannon which will run out fairly fast. The leftover 7.7 mm machine guns will not be as destructive but still might destroy you.
• It will be very challenging when facing against the Japanese Ki-43, as both of you have the same characteristics. You cannot outrun each other and cannot out-turn each other, so the fight will be a combination of various manoeuvres and techniques, and of course, the pilot's skills. Note that the Ki-43 has similar appearance as the Ki-44 and can be misjudged as a Ki-44 or a Zero. Comparing to the Ki-43, the Ki-44 has a slightly bigger engine and the canopy is shifted backwards, while the Zero has a very framed cockpit and usually a fully black nose.
• When it comes to intercepting ground pounders or bombers, the Ki-43 generally performs poorly since the targets are all quite robust against your weak guns. Some examples are the IL-2 which is commonly seen in Sim. It can get mistakenly seen as other aircraft from a distance due to its common appearance. But up close you will see two bomb-like structures underneath its wings and triangular stabilisers with rounded tips. The early IL-2s have no defensive guns so it is safe to sit behind and carefully aim. They are heavily armoured in the cockpit and engine so avoid aiming at these areas. Instead target the tail to hope for disabling their tail control. The late IL-2s, however, have a rear-facing Berezin UB which is something you definitely want to avoid. Perform deflection shots or just disengage.

Enemies worth noting:

• Typhoon Mk Ia: this is a very capable opponent, it is quite fast, climbs good, manoeuvres decently and has 12 x 7.7 mm MGs that can fatally damage the Ki-43. If you are attacking, get an altitude advantage first and BnZ it. If you are being attacked by it, evade its first pass and immediately start a turnfight. You need to deploy combat/takeoff flaps, or even landing flaps if needed to push your turn rate to the limit. Several circles are needed, don't panic to see the Typhoon keeping up with your turns at first. With appropriate flaps, the Ki-43 will slowly out turn it, allowing you to get onto its tail. The Typhoon overall resembles a Hurricane, except its symbolic giant intake below the engine.

Manual Engine Control

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Decently fast for the rank
• Great manoeuvrability
• Good rate of climb
• Respectable firepower for a fighter at its rank
• Useful flaps in a turnfight
• Great all-round visibility in simulator
• Forgiving landing characteristics

Cons:

• Mostly faces Japan (facing equally/more manoeuvrable planes)
• Somewhat limited damage output
• As with a lot of Japanese-made planes, is rather fragile
• Rudder locks up at around >=450 km/h, meaning that you will miss quite some passes due to the aim not being able to adjust horizontally
• No payload options

History

According to the records from NRA, the Chinese Expeditionary Force captured a Ki-43-Ic (P-5017; tail number given after its capture) in Burma on 1942/4/29; this aircraft was later confirmed to be one of the fighter piloted by Yasuda Yoshito (安田義人) who later was known as the pilot who witnessed the final flight of Katō Kateo (加藤建夫), the commander of 64th Air Squadron (later nicknamed Kato Hayabusa Squadron 加藤隼戦闘隊) later on 22nd May. Three years later, by the time of the end of war, ROCAF acquired the remaining Ki-43s in Mainland China which were mostly stationed at Nanjing; likely due to their obsolete performance, lack of spare parts and upcoming US-built fighters, these aircrafts which were transferred to the 6th Wing of ROCAF were soon replaced by new fighters.

Meanwhile, as the Communist forces took over the assets from both Japanese and puppet-state Manchuria, they have also acquired 8 Ki-43s used by these two forces; thanks to having a Japanese pilot and Wang Jingwei Regime officers who also flew Hayabusa before, the Northeastern Aviation School now has trainer aircrafts to train pilots for the Communist side, helping to built the foundations of the future PLAAF in 1949. ^[1]

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Ki-43-III ko (China) from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.