The (Kind of) Accidental Superplane: Kawasaki Ki-100

Nobody wants to admit this in public, but some of the greatest aviation artwork ever created was designed to decorate the cardboard box covers of plastic model kits. I wish I still had some of my old box covers!

One thing to bear in mind is that the Zero was a navy fighter whereas the other types mentioned were army types, and the Japanese army and navy air forces had their own separate development programs, so to call the KI-100 a successor to the Zero is somewhat misleading. The Japanese navy did have a replacement for the Zero in development (the Mitsubishi A7M "Reppu") but is came too late and never saw active service.

I once worked with a guy in Japan who was the company staff bus driver. He was in his 70's then. Talking to him at the company New Year party, turns out out he was "volunteered" out of high school at 18 and sent to basic training with the Army airforce. After 6 weeks of basic training he was sent to flight school for another 6 weeks of ground training and then after a whole 16 hours of flight training he was posted to a fighter unit in northern Japan to fly Ki-100's. He got 90 minutes more flight instruction at the unit before being declared ready. He never flew a single combat mission because they never had enough fuel and aircraft at the same time, so only the most senior pilots did any combat flying. His entire war service involved less than 20 hours of flying, and then Japan surrendered and he got a pilot's pension for life. He was scared of heights too, which I (& he) thought was halarious given the service he got shoved into.

Pops was an engine mechanic on Biak and they inherited a Japanese boneyard. They slowly took apart all the engines and couldn’t believe how Japanese metallurgy deteriorated over time

I do find it Alanis level ironic that the Japanese were desperately trying to find a solution to high altitude daylight B-29 raids at the same time that the 20th Air Force were desperately trying to find a solution to the ineffective results of high altitude daylight B-29 raids, which they abandoned for RAF Bomber Command style low level night incendiary raids, thus making the reason for supercharging the Ki-100 kind of an exercise in futility.

It is amazing that the Japanese were able to bring the Ki-100 into production and its actual victories (whatever the number) prove that it was competitive with the American stalwarts. However, if the war had lasted even 1 or 2 more months, the Ki-100 would have been met with 3 new adversaries. The Gruman F8F Bearcat and F7F Tigercat, as well as the Chance-Vought Corsair F4U-5. All of these were already flying and had proven performance gains over the older American fighters. In particular, they could all exceed 450 mph and handled well.

You fail to mention the most amazing thing about the conversion from the Ki61 to the Ki100 - The entire redesign and protoype construction was done inside of 1 month! (Jan to Freb 1945.) It took the German 3 years (1938-40) to design the Fw 190A and 2 years 1942-43) to re-engine the A model into the D model.

There half as many parts in a radial as a German liquid cooled. The complexity was the fuel injection and multi-speed superchargers.

I recall reading that the weight of the DB600-series of inverted V12 engines made a LEAD counterweight necessary in the Ki-61. When the Mistubishi Ha-112-II radial engine was chosen, the Lead weight was removed and things got interesting.

The KI 61 was one of the prettiest fighters WW2 imo. The KI 100 was reminiscent of the excellent late war Lavochkin series of fighters.

Sounds of life, Smile down the runway, The apothecary diaries are superb. Perfect to show a lady your not watching cartoons. Rather excellent draw your significant other away from reality show's as well.

Great video, well done. I have been to the RAF museum at Hendon, North London several times. As mentioned, this museum has the worlds only surviving Ki-100. It also has the worlds only surviving Mitsubishi Dinah twin engined reconnaissance aircraft parked next to it, as well as a rocket powered 'Baka' (idiot) Kamakaza aircraft. Talking to the staff at the museum, they have said that some Japanese tourists have been amazed to stumble upon these aircraft. They have even helped to translate some of the old and not understood Japanese writing on the side of the Ki-100. (Japanese written language has changed since WW2). Also, I have met the great late test pilot Capt. Eric Brown RN more than once. (He was a world record holder who had flown 485 aircaft types, including many rare WW2 German aircraft). Asking him which was the best Japanese fighter of WW2, he replied that it was the Ki-84 Hayate. Perhaps you should make a video about this aircraft. I don't know how many Japanese fighter aircraft types he test flew, but he said that this aircraft was the best of them. Which didn't surprise me, as the Ki-84 fighter (on paper at least) had the highest rate of climb and speed of any Japanese WW2 fighter.

One thing I didn't hear mentioned was the problem of putting a larger radial engine onto a slender fuselage. Kawasaki had an imported FW 190A. They studied how the Germans faired a large radial onto a slim fuselage. The Japanese leaned the lesson well. The IJN had the same problem. The Yokosuka D4Y dive bomber was using the same license built DB engine and had the same headaches. The D4Y1 and -2 had the DB engine. The plague prone Atsuta liquid cooled engine (LCE) was replace by a much more reliable radial in the D4Y3 and -4 in the same way as in the Ki-100. The Japanese never really came to terms with LCEs. If IJN and IJA pilots of the time heard you calling the Ki-100 the 'Zero 2', you'd be lucky not to understand Japanese. The blistering denunciation and contempt you would receive would be volcanic. You simply don't understand how much the two military branches hated each other.

The comparison of planes in dog fight combats needs to consider pilot experience, by late war, US pilots were well trained and Japanese pilots were even beginners with low hours or stressed out very experienced pilots.

I just want to say I appreciate how you covered the topics in your earliest videos, even if it might super-clash with your content now.

I now have this on loop... Forever.

I knew that thumbnail was the box art for the Otaki kit. Haven't seen that picture since the eighties but instantly recognised it

Terrific video once again. Mahalo!

interesting as always - thanks

Excellent stuff bro