Tada's Ki-61-I hei

Tada's Ki-61-I hei

Tada's Ki-61-I hei

Japan

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
5.3	4.7	4.0

Class:

PREMIUM

Fighter

Purchase:2 980

Show in game

Description

The Tada's Ki-61-I hei Hien is a premium rank IV Japanese fighter with a battle rating of 5.3 (AB), 4.7 (RB), and 4.0 (SB). It was introduced in Update "Starfighters".

The "Hei" modification of the Ki-61 still retains the above average manoeuvrability, common to the Japanese aviation tree. However, the Hei Hien has some faults - its top speed is only 20 km/h higher than that of the early "Zeroes". Its climb rate is enough for its role, and it retains energy fairly well. While its acceleration holds itself pretty well, Its top speeds are not on par with other aircraft making it similar to the German Bf 109 G-6. Its guns are also a hit and miss - it is equipped with the deadly MG 151 20 mm cannons, and it can also equip German belts with Minengeschoß shells. However, the Japanese 12.7s are lower velocity and a bit on the weak side. The Hien's ammo count is average, albeit not as much as American aircraft. One thing to be noted is that the landing flaps are very effective and will slow you down even if you use WEP. That said, use them when you are trying to make somebody on your six overshoot you.

The Hei Hien's armament is flexible, as it is able to equip multiple kinds of bombs. With accuracy and shot placement, the large ammunition pool can work to your advantage. Equipping the air targets belt for the MG 151 cannons is the best choice for air combat. It features a high degree of Minengeschoß shells, specially made German HE shells with thin walls. There is no 20 mm cannon shell in the game with more high explosive than the Minengeschoß. As for the 12.7s, Stealth or Air target belts are your best bet. The best choice of bomb loadout is the 250 kg bombs due to the lack of precision needed. A pilot can miss a direct hit on a pillbox and still destroy it.

General info

Flight performance

Describe how the aircraft behaves in the air. Speed, manoeuvrability, acceleration and allowable loads - these are the most important characteristics of the vehicle.

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	572	556	10300	21.9	22.5	7.1	7.1	380
Upgraded	613	591		20.3	21.0	13.7	10.0

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	+	-
0	250	500	500	300	~10	~7

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 360	< 350	< 460	> 312

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
3,550 m	1,100 hp	1,232 hp

Survivability and armour

• 13 mm Steel plate behind the pilot

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Tada's Ki-61-I hei is armed with:

• 2 x 20 mm MG 151 cannons, wing-mounted (150 rpg = 300 total)
• 2 x 12.7 mm Ho-103 machine guns, nose-mounted (400 rpg = 800 total)

Suspended armament

The Tada's Ki-61-I hei can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

• Without load
• 2 x 50 kg Army Type 94 GPHE bombs (100 kg total)
• 2 x 100 kg Army Type 94 GPHE bombs (200 kg total)
• 2 x 250 kg Army Type 92 GPHE bombs (500 kg total)

Usage in battles

Realistic battles

Instead of simply turn fighting the Ki-61 is very good at energy fighting, or "boom and zoom". Once at a high altitude the Hien pilot may choose to dive lower to attack an enemy. If the enemy is not destroyed on the first pass, it is recommended to climb sharply and gain altitude. By doing this, the Hien sets itself up for another attack while not being in the range of the enemy's guns.

The Hei Hien is best utilised as a multi-purpose fighter. Although proficient at energy fighting, the Ki-61 is also generally good at standard manoeuvres. It may lose turn fights with some enemy aircraft like the Spitfire Mk Vb/trop, but nonetheless it can still be used in multiple roles. The Hien is your standard "jack of all trades". It's not incredibly good at anything it does but is instead even across the board. This allows the Hien pilot to choose what role he or she wants to play in the battle. One could play the reserved, high flying energy fighter, or the aggressive low flying dog-fighter. The Ki-61 allows these choices.

If caught in a sticky situation, the Hien pilot may choose to do several things. Depending on your altitude, executing rolling scissors or an overshoot may be a valid tactic. Try to make the enemy pilot feel pressured to disengage. Depending on the enemy's aircraft, use your speed to your advantage and try to get away. The surest tactic would be communicating with teammates to ensure your assailant's death. Once tailed, the Hien pilot can "set up" an enemy by nosing up about 70 degrees so the entirety of the enemy plane is shown. At this stage, ideally, your teammate is arriving to save the day. In Realistic battles, if your team is made up of A6Ms it may also be beneficial to fly to them and start turn fighting.

Simulator battles

In sim, the Ki-61 can be used in BnZ fighting, turn fighting, intercepting and some ground pounding. The Ki-61 is overall a pretty friendly plane to fly. It is quite fast, handles nicely at all speeds, has decent visibility especially over the nose, climbs great and has powerful armament. However its main disadvantage is the weak protection.

Before taking off, bring at least 30 minutes of fuel for longer patrol time. If you are not using MEC, use around 95% throttle when cruising below 3000m since the engine will slowly heat up at full throttle. But full throttle is fine at higher altitudes.

Only elevator trim is available, so when the stick is at its deadzone, the Ki-61 will roll and yaw to the left side. Therefore you always need to pull the stick to the right which can get a bit annoying. Usually, a trim of around -7% is enough. But when carrying the 2x 250kg bombload, no negative trim is needed.

For dogfighting, it is always safer to enter with an altitude advantage. Most dogfights in sim happen below 3,000m so the Ki-61 can easily climb up to that altitude. As mentioned in the description, its climb rate is actually great, don't get misled by the stat card. Once at an advantageous height, boom & zoom the enemies. The Ki-61 can easily accelerate to more than 550 kph in a dive which is decently fast but requires more precise maneuvers to get the correct lead, since the faster you go the smaller the shooting window is. A successful pass will usually cripple the enemy due to the destructive twin MG151. Aside from BnZ, the Ki-61 is also excellent at turn fighting--with the appropriate opponent, of course. Except a few dedicated turn fighters, the Ki-61 can out-turn and get on most opponents' tail with combat flaps deployed. Note: do not turn with Spitfires or Zeros, you will never out-turn them. If you see a plane with a streamlined inline engine and large, elliptical wings (Spitfire) or something with rounded wingtips and stablisers tips, a radial engine and a pointy tail (A6M), try some defensive maneuvers like barrel rolls or disengage by diving towards a nearby friendly airfield. Note that the Ki-61's roll rate is very average so avoid maneuvers like scissors.

When intercepting planes, it is crucial to know what the target is, because although you have powerful armament, most targets can still easily damage you in return. If it is a bomber / attacker with decent defensive firepower, or great turret coverage, then you might want to disengage after some attempts if you don't want to die. From the hard-hitting M2 Browning to the fast-firing MG 15, any gun can critically damage the Ki-61 especially on the engine, fuel tank 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 it is better to aim for their wings and engines, as the fuselage usually soaks up quite some bullets. Only fire when the bomber passes in front of your guns. This short window might seems inadequate to do anything but the 20mm Mineshells will not disappoint its user. A few hits with the MG151 is enough to cripple the target. But DO NOT follow behind a bomber's 6 unless you are sure that its tail gunners are unconscious. Chasing behind a bomber makes yourself pretty much stationary for the tail gunners, and you will be showered with bullets.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Not controllable	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Separate	Not controllable 1 gear	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage repair	Radiator		Offensive 12 mm	7 in (mod20)
II		Compressor	Airframe	New 12 mm MGs	10 in (mod24)
III	Wings repair	Engine		Offensive 20 mm	12 in (mod30)
IV		Engine injection	Cover	New 20 mm cannons
This is a premium vehicle: all modifications are unlocked on purchase

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Above average manoeuvrability
• Good diving capabilities
• Equipped with German MG 151 cannons, firing Minengeschoß shells
• Self-sealing fuel tanks
• Relatively good high altitude capabilities (compared to other Japanese tier III planes)
• High ammunition count
• Above average energy retention
• Able to equip bombs

Cons:

• Little armour
• Generally slow
• Wobbles in unexpected turns
• The aircraft's battle rating is high for its performance
• Vulnerable to fires

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

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, 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

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

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