World War II Database

1. Anonymous says:
22 Jan 2008 01:03:57 AM

Enjoyed seeing the photo of the Ki-84 Hayate in flight. The Government of Japan made everything so secretive, even to its own people, so that we did not have much chance of seeing photos of these war machines. Ki-84, I believe, is one of the best, and the most beautiful, planes we ever developed. Sad to say that it was for the purpose of fighting the war to kill people. Let us hope that peace will prevail the world forever.

2.  David Stubblebine says:
20 Sep 2014 10:38:32 PM

The white lightning bolt on the tail looks similar to the tail markings for USN Air Group 85 aboard USS Shangri-La in 1945. See http://ww2db.com/image.php?s=n&image_id=22068

3. Ron says:
4 Apr 2016 10:39:03 PM

The IJA did a better job of replacing their mainstay Ki 43 generral purpose fighter with the Ki 84, than the IJN did.
The replacement for the Navy Zero languished till the end in developement and so the Reppu never saw action.

The Ki 84 Hayate saw all kinds of action!

Top ace Tom McQuire was probably a victim, mistaking it for a Ki 43 that was also in the fight earlier. It was 4 P-38Ls vs 2 Nkajimas one at a time. Scratch 2 US aces and their new P-38s. An Ho-5 20mm shell was found in the wreckage of Tom's fighter. Likely it was not from the Ki 43 Hayabusa.

This family resemblance with Nakajima fighters worked in their favor, to the benefit of the Ki 84 that time. The US pilots were obviously confused, not realizing they were fighting 2 very different planes.

You can't say that about the Mitsubishi Zero and Raiden, or Kawasaki Ki 61 and Ki 100, obviously

The Hayate (Frank) was however unreliable like so many late war Japanese fighters and had limited high altitude performance. At least it was the fastest and could also out-range and out-turn a Spitfire. 17 sec 360 turn time. It dove 497 mph and climbed better than US fighters. It could win either horizontally or vertically. Some had 4x20mm cannons for the B-29s. These Ho-5 weapons were the fastest 20mm cannons in WW2 but had lighter shells than the eatier Ho-3 on some of the Ki 44c Shokis, or Navy Type 99. Perhaps on par with the Soviet ShVAK 20mm cannon ammo, roughly.
Later Ki 84s would have 30mm plus 20mm cannons but I doubt these saw action by the end. Most just had 2x12.7mm plus 2x20mm weapons.

It was well armed and armored by Japanese standards and in strong numbers for a late war Japanese fighter. This made it the most important threat the Allied pilots faced.

It was supposedly going to get the reliable engine of the Reppu later but the war ended.

4. Anonymous says:
10 Jun 2018 07:06:33 PM

Photo likely post WWII, judging from aircraft in background.