Mansyū Ki-98

Ki-98
Role Ground-attack aircraft
National origin Japan
Manufacturer Manchuria Airplane Manufacturing Company
Primary user Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (intended)
Number built 1 (destroyed before completion)[1]

The Mansyū Ki-98, (also written as Manshū Ki-98),[1] was a Japanese ground-attack aircraft proposed by Mansyū (Manshūkoku Hikōki K.K. - Manchuria Airplane Manufacturing Company Ltd.) during World War II for use by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. The still unassembled components of the first prototype were deliberately destroyed before Japan surrendered.

Design and development

By late in 1942 the IJN issued requirements for new combat aircraft, including a ground attack aircraft. Kawasaki proposed the Kawasaki Ki-102 and Mansyū the Ki-98. The Ki-98 was to have been a single-seat, twin-boom, low-wing monoplane with a central nacelle housing both the cockpit and a turbosupercharged 1,643-kilowatt (2,200-hp) Mitsubishi Ha-211 Ru radial engine behind the pilot driving a four-bladed pusher propeller rotating between the booms.[2] The underslung booms extended aft from slightly forward of the leading edge of the wing with ovoid fins supporting the tailplane and elevator between them.[2] The aircraft had a retractable tricycle landing gear, bubble canopy, and an armament of one 37-mm and two 20-mm cannon mounted in the nose.[2] Entry to the cockpit was to have been through a door in the nose undercarriage bay.

In the Spring of 1944 the IJN instructed Mansyū to adapt the design as a high-altitude fighter. The major change being the engine, substituting the turbocharged Mitsubishi Ha-211 Ru for the original Mitsubishi Ha-211 III. The increased bulk of the new engine requiring the fuselage to be enlarged and the larger diameter propeller necessitated moving the booms outboard.[1]

Construction of the first prototype was delayed by bombing raids on the Harbin factory till January 1945. Components for the first prototype was still under construction and hadn't been assembled when the Soviet Union invaded Manchuria (Mǎnzhōuguó) early in August 1945; the Manchurian Imperial Army ordered all documentation and material to be destroyed to prevent capture by Soviet forces, bringing the Ki-98 project to an end.[1]

Specifications (Ki-98 estimated)

Data from Japanese Secret Projects:Experimental aircraft of the IJA and IJN 1939–1945[1]

General characteristics

Performance

Armament

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Related lists

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Dyer, Edwin M. III (2009). Japanese Secret Projects:Experimental aircraft of the IJA and IJN 1939–1945 (1st ed.). Hinkley: Midland publishing. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-1-85780-317-4.
  2. 1 2 3 Francillon, p. 486.

Bibliography

  • Francillon, René J. Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979. ISBN 0-87021-313-X.
  • Dyer, Edwin M. III (2009). Japanese Secret Projects:Experimental aircraft of the IJA and IJN 1939–1945 (1st ed.). Hinkley: Midland publishing. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-1-85780-317-4. 
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