The (Kind of) Accidental Superplane: Kawasaki Ki-100

Video Description

In this video, we talk about the Kawasaki Ki-100, a Japanese fighter from late WW2 that was kind of built by accident. We first talk about Japan's military situation in late 1944 - early 1945, being constantly bombed by allied forces (mostly America) and with threats of a land invasion looming. We then look at an earlier attempt at making a fighter with an in-line liquid cooled engine, something kind of unusual for Japanese fighters. We look at the performance and problems with that design and engine that led to them trying out a radial engine on the frame, with gave them much better results and directly led to the Ki-100. We talk about the proposed role of the Ki-100 as a high-level interceptor and how it initially didn't do that very well, but performed quite well as a lower-level fighter. We look at some examples of the Ki-100 fighting dominant American aircraft like the F6F Hellcat and P-51, and how the Ki-100, at minimum, was about on par with them. We end by looking at why the Ki-100 wasn't produced in greater numbers and how it stacks up to other Japanese fighter designs.