HOME | DD

Description
Long-range reconnaissance bomber; comparable with many of the mid-latewar twin-engine designs of the West.

First concieved prior to the war as a reconnaissance aircraft capable of going west of Lake Baikal in the Soviet Union from airbases in Manchuria, it evolved into a aircraft that called for potential bombing and recon missions over the United States as the war dragged on.

The Ki-74 had the largest range of any Japanese aircraft of the war (a whopping 8000km), beaten only by the planned Nakajima G10N Fugaku of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (had a range twice of the Ki-74). Had it been in proper service, it would've been able to reach the Mariana Islands and Chungking (the wartime capital of the ROC) from Tokyo or Port Moresby, Darwin, and Colombo from Singapore.

It had a light armament and payload though (can carry 20x 50kg bombs, 10x 100kg bombs, 4x 250kg bombs, or 2x 500kg bombs / armed with a single 12.7mm Ho-103 machine gun in the tail cone), awing to it's original purpose for reconaissance, but uniquely for many of the IJAAS' aircraft, it had self-sealing tanks and a pressurized cockpit, allowing it to operate at high altitudes and make it to base if the wings were pelted with holes. Initially given the reporting name "Pat", it was changed to "Patsy" after the AIB found out that it wasn't a heavy fighter, but actually a bomber.

Description
Long-range reconnaissance bomber; comparable with many of the mid-latewar twin-engine designs of the West.

First concieved prior to the war as a reconnaissance aircraft capable of going west of Lake Baikal in the Soviet Union from airbases in Manchuria, it evolved into a aircraft that called for potential bombing and recon missions over the United States as the war dragged on.

The Ki-74 had the largest range of any Japanese aircraft of the war (a whopping 8000km), beaten only by the planned Nakajima G10N Fugaku of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (had a range twice of the Ki-74). Had it been in proper service, it would've been able to reach the Mariana Islands and Chungking (the wartime capital of the ROC) from Tokyo or Port Moresby, Darwin, and Colombo from Singapore.

It had a light armament and payload though (can carry 20x 50kg bombs, 10x 100kg bombs, 4x 250kg bombs, or 2x 500kg bombs / armed with a single 12.7mm Ho-103 machine gun in the tail cone), awing to it's original purpose for reconaissance, but uniquely for many of the IJAAS' aircraft, it had self-sealing tanks and a pressurized cockpit, allowing it to operate at high altitudes and make it to base if the wings were pelted with holes. Initially given the reporting name "Pat", it was changed to "Patsy" after the AIB found out that it wasn't a heavy fighter, but actually a bomber.