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Kawasaki Ki-91

1945 SECRET WEAPONS OF THE IJA/IJN WORLD WAR 2 X-PLANE

History of the Kawasaki Ki-91

The Kawasaki Ki-91 represented a rare mid-to-late war four-engine heavy bomber initiative in the Empire of Japan. The development of the Ki-91 was strong at a time when Japanese troops were suffering constant losses on the battlefield and air supremacy was being lost month by month.

Fighters and interceptors seem plausible, as in Germany, but this four-engine "heavy" is still enforced by Kawasaki.

The wingspan is designed to be 157.4 feet x 108.2 feet long - even larger than the famous American Boeing B-29 "Superfortress" (141.2 feet wingspan, 99 feet long). Loaded weight is estimated at 127,870 pounds.

The bomb load should be in the 8,820 lb range (well below the Superfortress' 20,000 lb load limit) and the aircraft will be defended by no less than 12 x 20mm guns - two in the nose turret, two in the back turret, Four transverse two ventral turrets (one forward, the other aft) and four aft complete a turret - one of the best armed bombers of the war to say the least. The large aircraft will be powered by four Mitsubishi Ha-214 "Ru" engines, each producing more than 2,500 horsepower, with estimated performance figures including a top speed of 360 mph and a range of up to 6,215 miles (360 mph for the B-29). per hour, the ferry can travel up to 5,600 miles).

Externally, the aircraft features a stepped cockpit approach, which means the flight deck is separated from the fuselage profile and has its own window panes (in contrast to the B-29's streamlined shape). The hull will be a rounded rectangle with board edges, the shape is broken by placing a few watch bubbles in her design. Glass will be installed around the nose and cockpit, with viewing ports throughout the fuselage and machine gun locations. Mid-mounted monoplane wings were used, each with a pair of engine nacelles on the leading edge. The empennage will consist of a circular vertical fin attached to a pair of low-mounted horizontal planes - these are located in front of the tail turret.

A tricycle undercarriage was used, unlike the old "trailer" configuration.

Design work on the aircraft began in May 1943 and progressed so quickly that the first prototype was built in late 1944 and the Kawasaki production line was ready for mass production. However, an Allied bombing in February 1945 destroyed much of the Ki-91 program, forcing the program to stop and eventually abandon it in favor of fighter jets and interceptors to match the American B-29 presence over the Japanese mainland for fights .