Kawasaki Ki-61-Ib Hein (Tony)

Awarded the reporting name of Tony, based upon an Allied intelligence theory describing the airplane as a Japanese-built variant of Italy’s Macchi C.202, the Ki-61 first saw combat over the Japanese city of Yokohama during the Doolittle Raid in April, 1942. 

Despite various Allied theories concerning its perceived foreign origins, the Ki-61’s airframe was of Japanese design, although its development sprang from a request for two fighters powered by Germany’s Daimler-Benz DB 601 inverted V-12 engine. Ki-61 pilots were enthusiastic about its self-sealing fuel tanks, added armor and generally more rugged construction, although senior commanders expressed concerns over whether the fighter would be as maneuverable as its more lightly-built Japanese stable mates, such as Mitsubishi’s A6M Zero. To allay these concerns, Kawasaki arranged a fly-off featuring captured examples of America’s Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and the Soviet Union’s LaGG-3. Added to this competitive mix was a Bf 109E-7 along with an assortment of Japanese types as well. The Ki-61 proved faster than any of the aircraft tested, and of these, only a prototype Nakajima Ki-43 could out-maneuver it. 

The first operational Japanese Army Air Force Ki-61 units were based at Wewak in New Guinea, with another being at Rabaul. Both units discovered that operating these advanced fighters in the Jungle presented a special set of challenges, with the aircraft’s fuel pump being particularly fickle in tropical heat. The Kawasaki Ha-40 engine itself, a licensed copy of the DB 601Aa, presented the biggest challenge, since in-theater overhauls were untenable.

Indeed, engine trouble or fuel starvation were possible causes behind the Museum’s example having to force-land in a stand of Kunai grass outside the village of Yiliwe in New Guinea during WWII. A Ki-61-Ib bearing construction number 640, it is thought that our aircraft was built in Kamamighara during November 1943 and operating in the area of Wewak at the time of its loss. The aircraft, largely intact, lay more or less undisturbed at its crash site until 1975 when, bit-by-bit, it was slowly gathered for a regional museum.