Nakajima Ki-201

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Nakajima Ki-201 Karyu

The Nakajima Ki-201 Karyu (Japanese: 中島 キ-201 火龍, "Fire Dragon", sometimes transliterated as Karyuu) was a Japanese jet fighter project designed during the final stages of World War II but which was never completed.

[edit] Development

The Karyu began as an in-house project by Nakajima in early 1945 to apply what was being learned about jet aircraft from the Nakajima Kikka attack aircraft to a fighter design. The Kikka had been inspired by the successful German Messerschmitt Me 262, but the similarities to that aircraft were limited to general configuration. On the other hand, the design team led by Iwao Shibuya based the Karyu far more closely on the German aircraft, which had already proven itself quite formidable.

Nakajima attempted to interest the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in the aircraft, and seems to have succeeded at least far enough to have had an official designation ("Ki-201") applied to it, but at that point, the Air Force had already decided to pursue derivatives of the Mitsubishi J8M as their way of fending off the B-29 Superfortress raids. It seems that the Navy was also approached but displayed no interest whatsoever.

Undaunted, Nakajima continued development, anticipating test flights by December 1945. At the time of the Japanese surrender, most sources agree that work on the prototype had not yet begun.

[edit] Versions

Proposed Versions for Japanese Army development of the Nakajima Ki-201 Karyu were a interceptor - equivalent to Me 262 A-1a - and a fighter bomber - equivalent to Me 262 A-2a. The powerplant would be the Ishikawajima Ne-130 turbojet of 908 kgf or the Ne-230 turbojet of 885 kgf.

[edit] Specifications (planned specification)

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 14.50 m (37 ft 9 in)
• Wingspan: 13.69 m (44 ft 11 in)
• Height: 4.69 m (13 ft 4 in)
• Wing area: 25.0 m² 269 ft² ()
• Empty weight: 4,500 kg (9,920 lb)
• Loaded weight: 7,000 kg (15,400 lb)
• Powerplant: 2× Ishikawajima Ne-230 turbojet, 8.7 kN (1,900 lbf) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 812 km/h (507 mph)
• Range: 978 km (611 miles)
• Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,400 ft)
• Rate of climb: 774 m/min (2,540 ft/min)

Armament

• Intercpetor: 2 x 30 mm Type 5 machine gun or 20 mm Type 99 machine gun
• Fighter bomber: as interceptor with one 800 kg or 500 kg bomb

[edit] External Link

• Japanese Aircraft

[edit] Related content

See also

• List of World War II jet aircraft