Ki-43-I

Ki-43-I

Ki-27 otsu

Ki-43-II

360://https://wiki.warthunder.com/images/9/99/Cockpit_ki_43_1.jpg

Ki-43-I

Ki-27 otsu

Ki-43-II

Japan

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.0	2.7	2.3

Class:

Fighter

Research:4 000

Purchase:2 100

Show in game

This page is about the Japanese fighter Ki-43-I. For other uses, see Ki-43 (Family).

Description

The Ki-43-I Hayabusa is a rank I Japanese fighter with a battle rating of 2.0 (AB), 2.7 (RB), and 2.3 (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.43.

General info

Flight Performance

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 4,000 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	476	461	9000	14.2	15.0	11.8	11.8	120
Upgraded	517	495		13.8	14.0	19.6	15.3

Details

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

Limits
Wing-break speed (km/h)	Gear limit (km/h)	Combat flaps (km/h)	Max Static G
			+	-
0	300	450	~10	~5

Optimal velocities
Ailerons (km/h)	Rudder (km/h)	Elevators (km/h)	Radiator (km/h)
< 370	< 350	< 450	> 318

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
3,000 m	970 hp	1,095 hp

Survivability and armour

The Ki-43 I is quite vulnerable, thanks to its lack of armour. Also, the fuel tanks are not self-sealing. They are located in the inner part of the wings, 2 on each side.

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Ki-43-I is armed with:

• A choice between three presets:
  • 2 x 7.7 mm Type 89 army machine guns, nose-mounted (500 rpg = 1,000 total)
  • 1 x 12.7 mm Ho-103 army machine gun, nose-mounted (270 rpg) + 1 x 7.7 mm Type 89 army machine gun, nose-mounted (500 rpg)
  • 2 x 12.7 mm Ho-103 army machine guns, nose-mounted (270 rpg = 540 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.

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 Chinese/American 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 which are also in the Chinese/American tree. Comparing to the Ki-43, the Ki-44 has a slightly bigger engine and the canopy is shifted backwards. The Chinese Zero is painted dark brown with a silver spinner, while the American one is in greyish-blue. They all turn well and have 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.

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 7 mm
II		Compressor	Airframe	New 7 mm MGs	Otsu mod.
III	Wings repair	Engine		Offensive 12 mm
IV		Engine injection	Cover	New 12 mm MGs	Hei mod.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Turns quickly
• Decent Speed
• Good climb rate
• Great Acceleration
• Great roll rate
• Reasonably powerful armament

Cons:

• Doesn't turn as fast as the biplanes it typically faces
• Stealth belts are the only viable belt to use for both Ho-103 & Type 89
• Fragile frame
• Easily set afire
• Engine can be easily damaged
• Lacks self-sealing fuel tanks
• Absence of any armour protection
• Ho-103 (12.7 mm) has an abysmal ammo capacity in Realistic and Simulator battles (540 total)

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

The Shooting Range #27 - Pages of History section at 03:22 discusses the Ki-43.

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.