Kawasaki Ki-48
Encyclopedia
The Kawasaki Ki-48, 九九式双発軽爆撃機 'Sokei', Army Type 99 Twin-engined Light Bomber, was a Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese twin-engine light bomber
Light bomber
A light bomber is a relatively small and fast class of military bomber aircraft which were primarily employed before the 1950s. Such aircraft would typically not carry more than one ton of ordnance....
that was used during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Its Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
reporting name
World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft
The World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft were reporting names, often described as codenames, given by Allied personnel to Imperial Japanese aircraft during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The names were used by Allied personnel to identify Japanese aircraft for reporting and...
was "Lily".
Development
The development of the aircraft began at the end of 1937 at the request of the Japanese military high command. Kawasaki received an order to develop a "high-speed bomberBomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
" capable of 480 km/h (300 mph) at 3,000 m (9,840 ft), and able to reach 5,000 m (16,400 ft) within 10 minutes. It was inspired by the Soviet Tupolev SB
Tupolev SB
The Tupolev ANT-40, also known by its service name Tupolev SB , and development co-name TsAGI-40, was a high speed twin-engined three-seat monoplane bomber, first flown in 1934....
.
Kawasaki had the advantage of the experience of designing the Ki-45
Kawasaki Ki-45
The Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu was a two-seat, twin-engine fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. The army gave it the designation "Type 2 Two-Seat Fighter"; the Allied reporting name was "Nick"....
twin-engined heavy fighter
Heavy fighter
A heavy fighter is a fighter aircraft designed to carry heavier weapons or operate at longer ranges. To achieve acceptable performance, most heavy fighters were twin-engined, and many had multi-place crews....
. Most technical problems were solved; however the aircraft had a number of defects. It could carry only a 800 kg (1,760 lb) bombload (less than the single-engined Hawker Typhoon
Hawker Typhoon
The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. While the Typhoon was designed to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, and a direct replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, several design problems were encountered, and the Typhoon never completely satisfied...
fighter-bomber
Fighter-bomber
A fighter-bomber is a fixed-wing aircraft with an intended primary role of light tactical bombing and also incorporating certain performance characteristics of a fighter aircraft. This term, although still used, has less significance since the introduction of rockets and guided missiles into aerial...
) and was equipped only with three machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
s, which made it very vulnerable to enemy fighters. The flight characteristics of the Ki-48 also left much to be desired. Allied fighters caught up in speed, and eventually, the Ki-48 was too slow to outrun them. Thanks to the fact that the first versions were under-armoured
Vehicle armour
Military vehicles are commonly armoured to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, missiles, or shells, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include tanks, aircraft, and ships....
, the Ki-48 could loop and turn with an experienced pilot at the controls. The aircraft was often used as a dive bomber
Dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target reduces the distance the bomb has to fall, which is the primary factor in determining the accuracy of the drop...
in Burma. The aircraft was not necessarily a failure, and was considered an acceptable light bomber for the first few years of the war by many historians.
Operational history
The aircraft served in ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
from late 1940, replacing the Kawasaki Ki-32
Kawasaki Ki-32
|-See also:-External links:*...
, and were widely used in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Malaya
British Malaya
British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
, Burma, New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
and the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
, where the Ki-48 Ia and Ib models, slow and badly armed, were supplemented by the marginally improved Ki-48 IIa and IIc, which were maintained in service along the older types until the end of the war.
All models continued in service until the Battle of Okinawa
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...
during April 1945, when many were converted into kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
aircraft (Ki-48-II KAI Tai-Atari) armed with an 800 kg (1,760 lb) bomb.
The fact that all models continued in service until 1945 reflects that many Ki-48s survived more often than not. This was due to the use of small ship formations (3–10 aircraft) escorted by large numbers of fighters (25–75), typically Nakajima Ki-43
Nakajima Ki-43
The Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa was a single-engine land-based tactical fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II...
s. Though not as fast as more modern fighters, after 1942 the plane was still quick enough to enable it to avoid interception.
Ki-48 Special Attack Unit
The British Pacific FleetBritish Pacific Fleet
The British Pacific Fleet was a British Commonwealth naval force which saw action against Japan during World War II. The fleet was composed of British Commonwealth naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944...
departed from Ceylon on 16 January 1945 en route to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and struck Japanese-held oil wells and refineries at Palembang
Palembang
Palembang is the capital city of the South Sumatra province in Indonesia. Palembang is one of the oldest cities in Indonesia, and has a history of being a capital of a maritime empire. Located on the Musi River banks on the east coast of southern Sumatra island, it has an area of 400.61 square...
, Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
on 24–29 January 1945 in Operation Meridian
Operation Meridian
During World War II, Operation Meridian was a series of British air attacks conducted on 24 January and 29 January 1945 on Japanese-held oil refineries at Palembang, on Sumatra...
.
On 29 January, seven Kawasaki Ki-48 of the Army's Shichisi Mitate Tokubetsu Kōgeki Tai counter-attacked the Allied fleet at low level as the British aircraft were returning from Palembang. The British radar picture was confused by the presence of over 100 friendly aircraft and the first two or three Supermarine Seafire
Supermarine Seafire
The Supermarine Seafire was a naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire specially adapted for operation from aircraft carriers. The name Seafire was arrived at by collapsing the longer name Sea Spitfire.-Origins of the Seafire:...
CAP
Combat air patrol
Combat air patrol is a type of flying mission for fighter aircraft.A combat air patrol is an aircraft patrol provided over an objective area, over the force protected, over the critical area of a combat zone, or over an air defense area, for the purpose of intercepting and destroying hostile...
interceptions did not occur until just before the Ki-48 entered the air defence zone. The last pair of Seafires chased the five remaining Ki-48s inside the screen, and with the support of returning F4U Corsair
F4U Corsair
The Vought F4U Corsair was a carrier-capable fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Demand for the aircraft soon overwhelmed Vought's manufacturing capability, resulting in production by Goodyear and Brewster: Goodyear-built Corsairs were designated FG and...
s and F6F Hellcat
F6F Hellcat
The Grumman F6F Hellcat was a carrier-based fighter aircraft developed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat in United States Navy service. Although the F6F resembled the Wildcat, it was a completely new design powered by a 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800. Some tagged it as the "Wildcat's big...
s which had just been scrambled, shot down all of them amongst intense AA fire. One Seafire was slightly damaged and one Hellcat was written off by friendly fire, but the only ship to be damaged was the carrier , hit by heavy AA shells.
Such success, minor by Pacific fighting standards at the time, gave the British Pacific Fleet useful expertise and confidence in its ability to deal with kamikaze attacks.
Variants
Ki-48- Four prototypePrototypeA prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
s with Ha-25 engines of 708 kW (950 hp), and five pre-production aircraft, with modified tail surfaces.
Ki-48-Ia
- Army Type 99 Twin Engine Light Bomber Model 1A; as first series model. Produced from 1940, 557 built.
Ki-48-Ib,
- Similar to the Ia, with changes in defensive machine gun mountings.
- Total production of Ki-48 Ia and Ib: 557 aircraft
Ki-48-II
- Three prototypes built.
Ki-48-IIa
- Fitted with more powerful engines, a longer fuselage, additional armour, and larger bomb load. Produced from April 1942.
Ki-48-IIb
- Dive bomber version, with reinforced fuselage and dive brakes.
Ki-48-IIc
- Improved defensive weapons. Produced from 1943.
- Total production of Ki-48 IIa, IIb and IIc: 1,408 aircraft
Ki-48-II KAI Kamikaze (Type Tai-Atari)
- Conversion with 800 kg (1,760 lb) of explosives and two or three pilots for kamikaze missions
Ki-81
- Proposed version of the Ki-48. Not built.
Ki-174
- Single-seat special attack version. Not built.
- Total production of all versions: 1,977 aircraft
Survivors
In the China Aviation Museum in DatangshanDatangshan
Datangshan is the name of a hill in the Changping District of Beijing, China. It is the site of China's largest aviation museum, the China Aviation Museum....
there is repica of a Kawasaki Ki-48 in Chinese Liberation Army Air Force colours,.
The Indonesian Air Force Museum is also claimed to have a Ki-48 in its collection.
Operators
- Chinese Nationalist Air Force
- 6th Group
- 5th Squadron operated captured aircraft.
- 6th Group
- Chinese Communist Air Force operated captured aircraft. The last Ki-48 retired from training role in 1952.
- Indonesian People's Security Force operated one aircraft against Dutch colonial rule. This aircraft was put together from bits and pieces of a number of aircraft to become the first twin-engined bomber in the Indonesian People's Security Force .
- Imperial Japanese Army Air Force
- 3rd Attack Air Combat Regiment (June 1942-June 1945)
- 6th Attack Air Combat Regiment (1942–1945)
- 8th Light Bomber Air Combat Regiment (August 1941-1945)
- 12th Light Bomber Air Combat Regiment (April 1944-August 1945)
- 16th Light Bomber Air Combat Regiment (1941–1945)
- 34th Light Bomber Air Combat Regiment (October 1942-April 1944)
- 35th Light Bomber Air Combat Regiment (1942–1944)
- 45th Attack Air Combat Regiment (July 1940-February 1944)
- 65th Attack/Light Bomber Air Combat Regiment (1940-July 1941)
- 75th Attack Air Combat Regiment (1941-April 1945)
- 90th Light Bomber Air Combat Regiment (October 1941-August 1945)
- 206th Light Bomber Air Combat Regiment (June 1941-July 1941)
- 208th Light Bomber Air Combat Regiment (March 1941-May 1945)
- 82nd Independent Light Bomber Company (1940–1942)
- 21st Independent Headquarters Flight (July 1939-15 October 1942)
- Hokota Army Light Bomber Flying School
- Hokota Light Bomber Instructing Flight Division
- Mito Army Flying School
- Army Aviation Maintenance School
- Tokorozawa Army Aviation Maintenance School