Ki-43-II (USA)

▃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

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

Description

The ▃Ki-43-II Hayabusa is a premium Rank II American light 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

Characteristics
Stock
Max Speed (km/h at 6,000 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
535	523	9800	16.0	16.3	9.8	11.9	190
Upgraded
Max Speed (km/h at 6,000 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
581	558	9800	14.7	15.0	23.1	15.3	190

Details

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

Limits
Wing-break speed (km/h)	Gear limit (km/h)	Combat flap (km/h)	Max Static G
			+	-
0	300	450	~13	~6

Optimal velocities
Ailerons (km/h)	Rudder (km/h)	Elevators (km/h)	Radiator (km/h)
< 370	< 350	< 450	> 240

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
2,200 m	1,085 hp	1,071 hp
Setting 2
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
5,700 m	965 hp	1,071 hp

Survivability and armour

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

Armaments

Offensive armament

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

• 2 x 12.7 mm Ho-103 machine gun, 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 kph in a dive while still having responsive controls. However its speed retention is quite poor and will loose lots of speed as soon as you level out. For turnfighting, you can out-turn most monoplane and almost all heavy fighters / attackers even without combat flaps deployed, but never turn with Spitfires and Zeros.

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 bomber 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 keybind for left & 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 descent onto the runway. Takeoff & 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.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Not controllable	Controllable	Not controllable	Controllable	Combined	Controllable	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage Repair	Radiator		Offensive 12 mm
II		Compressor	Airframe	New 12 mm MGs
III	Wings Repair	Engine
IV		Engine Injection	Cover
This is a premium vehicle: all modifications are unlocked on purchase

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Decent Speed
• Good acceleration
• Climbs well
• Good cockpit visibility

Cons:

• Limited armament
• Lacks armour

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 big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an 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>, as well as adding them at the end of the article.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

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

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• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on aircraft;
• other literature.