Mitsubishi Ki-21 (Sally)

History

The Mitsubishi Ki-21 (Allied codename "Sally") was a successful medium bomber that served with the Japanese Air Force from 1939 and remained in service until 1945, although the aircraft had been used by the United States and theaters British plane in. Nonetheless, the Ki-21 has proven successful since its inception, becoming more lethal when used as a kamikaze aircraft.

While the Ki-21 was an adequate aircraft on its own, it also suffered from the major shortcomings inherent in most WWII Japanese designs - insufficient defensive armament and crew armor protection.

Visually, the Ki-21 has a clean design, with some similarities in layout to the American B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Marauder. The system produced two engines on a mid-mounted monoplane wing assembly. The cockpit is mounted directly in front of the root of the wing, allowing the pilot to clearly see the engines on either side of him. The nose features a conservatory-style glass arrangement with more small windows to look down rather than up.

A dorsal turret was mounted to the rear of the wing, with a vertical fin surface adorning the fin. The armament of the early models included some 7.7mm machine guns, although later models were upgraded to more, including the heavy 12.7mm machine guns in the later Ki-21 II model series. Individual instances of the gun are located in the nose, dorsal turret, ventral position, and two beam positions. In addition, an internal bomb carrying capacity of 2,205 pounds was granted.

There are five employees in the crew quarters.

The Ki-21 was originally developed by Mitsubishi for the needs of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force that emerged in 1936, with a prototype airborne at the end of that year. Despite the rapid development, delays in production meant that the system had to wait until the end of 1939 for large-scale use.

At this time, the Ki-21 was already in use in China and later elsewhere. Early combat reports indicated deficiencies in the design - mainly in armor and weapons - so the system appeared in the "b" and "c" variant classes to compensate for this.

Despite these efforts, the original Ki-21 line was completely obsolete, and an updated version of the Ki-21-II appeared, equipped with 1,500 Mitsubishi-branded radial engines, replacing the original Nakajima model. This new lineup comes in "a" and "b" variants, the main difference being the weaponry - the latter is armed with a Type 1 12.7mm machine gun (0.50 caliber) in a pedal-operated dorsal turret.

The Ki-21 had many early successes in the early years of the Pacific War, in part due to the sturdy construction and the general lack of readiness of the Allies. By the end of the war, Ki-21 operations had been reduced to dire deliveries of kamikaze units, with powerful internal payloads in widespread use.

The Ki-21 will be successfully produced by the updated Nakajima Ki-49 Donryu "Helen", despite the general disappointment of the aircraft itself.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes