Most of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (JAAF) fighters was in fact produced by Nakajima Hikoki K.K., just like the Ki-27, Ki-3 Hayabusa, and Ki-44 Shoki. Well into WWII, Nakajima focused their efforts on developing the newest Army Type 4 Fighter Hayate. Its development had been just available in Dec. 1941 responding on JAAF desire for a fresh general-purpose fighter, Ki-84. It absolutely was to surpass the rate and climbing ability of Ki-44 Shoki; have actually equal maneuverability and range towards the Ki-43 Hayabusa , and display superb attack energy. The Nakajima Ha-45 motor wound up being plumped for, that has been essentially the 16-cylinder Sakae engine utilized on the Zero fighter and Ki-43 Hayabusa, along with the following improvements: it absolutely was risen to 18-cylinders, made more lightweight, and had its power boosted to about 2000hp. Hayate had been additionally filled with 13mm armor plating and a 70mm armored windscreen, rendering it the first Japanese airplane constructed with pilot safety the developmental stage. In August 1943, the Hayate made its 1st sortie over Asia. Hayate fighters had been afterwards given to battle in Philippines, Okinawa and so on. These were also employed in japan mainland to intercept and destroy incoming B29 bombers. Including two 12.7mm fuselage machine gun/two wing mounted 20mm cannon prepared bomber destroyer-interceptor, about 3500 Hayates were produced. In last phases of WWII, the autumn both in the typical of available materials and production procedure caused a decline to the price of procedure and performance of Hayate.
