KAWASAKI KI-61 VERSUS CORSAIR

Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien (Japanese flying swallow) is a Japanese, single-engine, metal low wing fighter with a classic tail from the Second World War. The prototype's flight was nice in December 1941, and the first planes reached the line units in February 1943. The heart of the aircraft was the Kawasaki Ha-40 or Ha-140 engine, that is, a liquid-cooled German Daimler-Benz DB 601A built under license. The Ki-61 surprised the Allied forces during the fighting in New Guinea in June 1943, where it was taken as a copy of the German Messerschmitt Me-109, later suspected to be a copy of the Italian Macchi C202 or other Italian fighter. For this reason, he was given the nickname "Antonio" or "Tony". During the fights in 1943, Ki-61 fighters demonstrated their considerable advantage over American machines, such as the F-4 Wildcat. The Ki-61 later fought over the skies of New Britain and New Ireland, and in 1944 they were used in combat in the Philippines. Later they were used to defend the Japanese islands. Some of them have become kamikaze planes. The Ki-61 was undoubtedly a very good fighter, but its Achilles' heel was limited in series production due to problems with the engines. Technical data (version Ki-61-I): length: 8.94m, wingspan: 12m, height: 3.7m, maximum speed: 580km / h, rate of climb: 15.2m / s, maximum range: 580km, ceiling maximum 11,600m, armament: fixed - 2 12.7mm Ho-103 machine guns and 2 20mm Ho-5 cannons, suspended - up to 500 kg of bombs.The revolutionary design of the F4U Corsair was created in 1938 in response to the request of the US Navy to design a high-speed fighter stationed on board aircraft carriers. Chance Vought took on the challenge, with the goal of fitting the most powerful of the available engines (i.e. the Pratt-Whitney Double Wasp engine) into the smallest possible airframe. The key was to place the clunky landing gear in the inverted, crooked wings that became the hallmark of the aircraft. The flight of the prototype took place on May 29, 1940, and the US Navy received its first serial Corsair on July 31, 1942. However, tests carried out by the US Navy on aircraft carriers revealed some flaws in the design, which meant that the first production series of the aircraft went to squadrons of the Marine Corps and operated from land bases. The first unit received by the F-4 was the VMF-124 at Gudalcanal. It quickly turned out that the new machine definitely surpasses all enemy machines and, in several respects, also the F-6 Hellcat. At the same time, however, it was very difficult to pilot and required great attention when landing. Interestingly, only up to 20% of Corsair missions took off from the decks of aircraft carriers, and throughout almost the entire war they remained primarily a machine of the Marine Corps. After the end of World War II, the F-4 Corsair remained in the line and took part in the Korean War (1950-1953). Technical data (version F4U-4): Maximum speed: 731 km / h, speed of climb: 19.7 m / s, maximum ceiling 12649 m, maximum range: 1115 km, armament: fixed - 6 M2 machine guns, caliber 12, 7mm and 4 20mm Browning cannons, sling - up to 1800 kg of bombs.