Ki-43-II (USA)

This page is about the American premium fighter Ki-43-II (USA). For other versions, see Ki-43 (Family).

▃Ki-43-II

360://https://wiki.warthunder.com/images/5/53/Cockpit_ki_43_2_late.jpg

▃Ki-43-II

USA

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.3	2.7	2.7

Class:

PREMIUM

Fighter

Purchase:700

Show in game

Description

The ▃Ki-43-II Hayabusa is a premium rank II American fighter with a battle rating of 2.3 (AB) and 2.7 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.43.

The Ki-43-II Hayabusa was built from the ground up to be a very manoeuvrable turn fighter. It sacrifices any additional armament and armour for the ability to turn and climb. The aircraft was fitted with butterfly flaps (a type of combat flap) that drastically boost its ability to turn. Since the Hayabusa lacks any armour you will need to fly it with a defensive mindset. This aircraft is very comparable to the A6M series in the regards of handling and tactics.

General info

Flight performance

Max speed

at 6 000 m558 km/h

Turn time15 s

Max altitude9 800 m

EngineNakajima Ha-115

TypeRadial

Cooling systemAir

Take-off weight3 t

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 6,000 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	539	524	9800	15.7	16.3	11.9	11.9	190
Upgraded	580	558		14.7	15.0	19.6	15.3

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
661	300	416	373	250	~10	~8

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 370	< 350	< 450	> 295

Survivability and armour

Crew1 person

Speed of destruction

Structural0 km/h

Gear300 km/h

• 12 mm steel - behind pilot
• Fuel tanks in wing roots

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB827

RB5 328

SB1 073

Crew training2 300

Experts15 000

Aces125

Research Aces320 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 40 / 170 / 220 %

2 × 112 / 112 / 112 %

Modifications

Flight performance	Survivability	Weaponry
Fuselage repair Radiator Compressor Wings repair Engine Engine injection	Airframe Cover	safat12_belt_pack ho103_new_gun

Armaments

Offensive armament

Weapon 12 x 12.7 mm Ho-103 machine gun

Ammunition500 rounds

Fire rate900 shots/min

The Ki-43-II (USA) is armed with:

• 2 x 12.7 mm Ho-103 machine guns, nose-mounted (250 rpg = 500 total)

Usage in battles

In all modes, the Ki-43 can perform both BnZ fighting and turnfighting with the correct opponent. It can easily accelerate to 500 km/h in a dive while still having responsive controls. However its speed retention is quite poor and will lose lots of speed as soon as you level out. For turnfighting, you can out-turn most monoplanes and almost all heavy fighters/attackers even without combat flaps deployed, but never turn with Spitfires and Zeros. Note that this aircraft will experience severe rudder lockup when faster than around 450 km/h, resulting in awkward aiming adjustments if the target manoeuvres, so you need to cut throttle appropriately to control your speed.

While having sufficient flight characteristics, the Ki-43 is extremely fragile and can get critically damaged by almost all guns. From the hard-hitting M2 Browning to the fast-firing MG 15, any gun can badly hurt the Ki-43 especially on the engine, fuel tanks, and pilot which can always lead to a later crash. Before attacking try to get an altitude advantage and perform deflection shots. To maximise the damage aim for their wings and engines, as the fuselage usually soaks up lots of bullets. Only fire when the target passes in front of your guns. This short window might seem inadequate to do anything... and it usually is, unfortunately. The slow velocity, light projectiles and low one-second burst mass usually guarantee no critical damage. However sometimes it only takes one bullet to set the target aflame, if you are lucky.

In Simulator, the Ki-43 is overall a decent plane. It has very forgiving characteristics such as good over-the-nose visibility, a clear bubble canopy without much framing and good backwards visibility. This increases your chance of spotting, tracking, and/or dodging since you can see targets from almost every direction with ease (except the underside, of course). It is recommended to set keybind for moving your head vertically to make full use of the great forward vision in a dogfight. However, its wings are located directly below the cockpit meaning that you cannot see what is below your sides which can lead to you losing track of the enemy. You should get used to searching towards your 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 o'clock, avoiding the wings.

Note that when taking off the Ki-43 will shift severely to the left due to the propeller torque, so it is recommended to set keybinds for left and right brakes to effectively control your direction on the runway. Using rudder alone will not work at low speed and you will either circle around or lose control and crash into nearby structures like tents/hangars.

Landing is very beginner-friendly too. It is able to decelerate quickly while also having low stall speed, allowing you to quickly slow down and descend onto the runway. Takeoff and landing flaps do not lift up the nose a lot so you can easily remain overall parallel to the ground. It also performs great when braking as its nose will not usually dip into the ground, so you can keep braking until it fully stops (given that you deflect elevators fully upwards) which is vital for preparing the next fight quickly.

It has very good handling at most speeds. It does not wobble a lot which is an advantage over the biplanes and early monoplane fighters, making it easier to smooth the aim. You should familiarise the shape of those that you should not turn with: the Spitfires have long, straight nose with an inline engine, rather large and elliptical wings. The Zeros have an overall cylindrical fuselage that merges into a pointy tail after the stabilisers, a radial engine and are usually painted white (early models). If you see them on your tail try outrunning them by diving at around -40 degrees. The Ki-43 still remains responsive handling at 500 km/h, but its speed retention is poor, meaning it will start to lose speed quickly and the enemy might catch up. If you are near a friendly airfield, great. If not, then hope for the best and run towards the friendly side. Don't forget to pitch up and down a little to mess up their aim, the early Spitfires and A6M only have a 60-round drum per cannon which will run out fairly fast. The leftover 7.7 mm machine guns will not be as destructive but still might destroy you.

It will be very challenging when facing against the Japanese Ki-43, as both of you have the same characteristics. You cannot outrun each other and cannot out-turn each other, so the fight will be a combination of various manoeuvres and techniques, and of course, the pilot's skills. Note that the Ki-43 has similar appearance as the Ki-44 and can be misjudged as a Ki-44 or a Zero. Comparing to the Ki-43, the Ki-44 has a slightly bigger engine and the canopy is shifted backwards, while the Zero has a very framed cockpit and usually a fully black nose. They all turn well and accelerate well in a dive.

When it comes to intercepting ground pounders or bombers, the Ki-43 generally performs poorly since the targets are all quite robust against your weak guns. Some examples are the IL-2 which is commonly seen in Sim. It can get mistakenly seen as other aircraft from a distance due to its common appearance. But up close you will see two bomb-like structures underneath its wings and triangular stabilisers with rounded tips. The early IL-2s have no defensive guns so it is safe to sit behind and carefully aim. They are heavily armoured in the cockpit and engine so avoid aiming at these areas. Instead target the tail to hope for disabling their tail control. The late IL-2s, however, have a rear-facing Berezin UB which is something you definitely want to avoid. Perform deflection shots or just disengage.

Enemies worth noting:

• Typhoon Mk Ia (mixed battles): this is a very capable opponent, it is quite fast, climbs good, manoeuvres alright and has 12 x 7.7 mm MGs that can fatally damage the Ki-43. If you are attacking, get an altitude advantage first and BnZ it. If you are being attacked by it, evade its first pass and immediately start a turnfight. You need to deploy combat / takeoff flaps, or even landing flaps if needed to push your turn rate to the limit. Several circles are needed, don't panic to see the Typhoon keeping up with your turns at first. With appropriate flaps, the Ki-43 will slowly out turn it, allowing you to get onto its tail. The Typhoon overall resembles a Hurricane, except its symbolic giant intake below the engine.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Separate	Controllable 2 gears	Not controllable

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Decent level & dive speed at its place
• Good acceleration
• Climbs well
• Useful flaps in a turnfight
• Can turn on a dime, fantastic roll rate and turn rate; can turnfight with pretty much anything except similar planes
• Good all-round cockpit visibility in simulator
• Forgiving landing characteristics

Cons:

• Limited armament
• Lacks armour
• Mostly faces Japan (facing equally/more manoeuvrable planes)
• Somewhat limited damage output
• As with a lot of Japanese-made planes, is rather fragile
• Ammo limits prolonged fighting
• Rudder locks up past 450 km/h, meaning that you will miss quite some passes due to the aim not being able to adjust horizontally
• No payload options

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Ki-43-II (USA) from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• Official data sheet - more details about the performance