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Nakajima's Ki-43 Hayabusa ("Peregrine Falcon") was the most important Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) fighter of World War II. It entered service in late 1941 and served the entire duration of the war. When production ended in August 1945, Nakajima and Tachikawa had built 5,919 Ki-43s, making the Hayabusa the IJAAF's most-widely produced aircraft.
Known to Allied pilots by the codename "Oscar," the Hayabusa incorporated "butterfly" flaps that could be extended in combat to increase lift and decrease turning radius. It was perhaps the most maneuverable fighter of World War II -- even more maneuverable than the Imperial Japanese Navy's legendary Mitsubishi Zero (for which the Hayabusa was often mistaken). The Hayabusa, however, shared the Zero's shortcomings: inadequate offensive firepower and inadequate defensive armor, deficiencies that proved increasingly lethal for Japanese pilots from 1943 on.
The Museum's aircraft is a reproduction depicting a Tachikawa-built Ki-43-IIIa of the 3rd Chutai ("Fighter Squadron"), 54th Sentai ("Fighter Group"), based on Shumshu in the Kurile Islands in 1945; from there, Japanese squadrons defended the Home Islands from American bomber raids operating out of the Aleutian Islands. This Hayabusa reproduction incorporates parts from four wrecked Ki-43s of several variants recovered from Shumshu in the 1990s by the noted warbird collector Doug Champlin. GossHawk Unlimited of Casa Grande, Arizona, completed the reproduction in 2008, with Colonel Hiroo Murata, Japan Air Self-Defense Force (Ret.), as technical advisor.
Nakajima's Ki-43 Hayabusa ("Peregrine Falcon") was the most important Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) fighter of World War II. It entered service in late 1941 and served the entire duration of the war. When production ended in August 1945, Nakajima and Tachikawa had built 5,919 Ki-43s, making the Hayabusa the IJAAF's most-widely produced aircraft.
Known to Allied pilots by the codename "Oscar," the Hayabusa incorporated "butterfly" flaps that could be extended in combat to increase lift and decrease turning radius. It was perhaps the most maneuverable fighter of World War II -- even more maneuverable than the Imperial Japanese Navy's legendary Mitsubishi Zero (for which the Hayabusa was often mistaken). The Hayabusa, however, shared the Zero's shortcomings: inadequate offensive firepower and inadequate defensive armor, deficiencies that proved increasingly lethal for Japanese pilots from 1943 on.
The Museum's aircraft is a reproduction depicting a Tachikawa-built Ki-43-IIIa of the 3rd Chutai ("Fighter Squadron"), 54th Sentai ("Fighter Group"), based on Shumshu in the Kurile Islands in 1945; from there, Japanese squadrons defended the Home Islands from American bomber raids operating out of the Aleutian Islands. This Hayabusa reproduction incorporates parts from four wrecked Ki-43s of several variants recovered from Shumshu in the 1990s by the noted warbird collector Doug Champlin. GossHawk Unlimited of Casa Grande, Arizona, completed the reproduction in 2008, with Colonel Hiroo Murata, Japan Air Self-Defense Force (Ret.), as technical advisor.
