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Description
Nakajima Ki-44-IIc Hei Shōki (Allied reporting name "Tojo") of 3rd Chutai, 70th Hikō Sentai, Imperial Japanese Army, June 1945. Flown by Captain Yoshio Yoshida (6 kills).

The Nakajima Ki-44 Shōki or "Army Fighter Type 2" was a Japanese Army fighter aircraft, which first flew in August of 1940, and entered service in December of 1941. The Shōki was a radical departure of the then-usual fighter philosophy of the Japanese Army - rather than manoeuvrability, it was built for maximum airspeed and rate of climb. The resulting design was one which could match allied designs in climb and dive. Contrary to the contemporary Ki-43, the Ki-44 was heavily armed, the original design carrying two 7.7-mm and two 12.7-mm machine guns (compared to the Ki-43's twin 7.7-mm gun).

The short wing and resulting high wing loading meant that the Ki-44 was less manoeuvrable than Imperial Japanese Army pilots were used to, and this and its higher landing speed initially made the type unpopular among them. While this also meant the type was a poor dogfighter, it was primarily used as an air-defence fighter, equipping 12 Sentai, with some aircraft also equiping the air force of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo.

The original Ki-44-I design, of which 50 were produced (1 prototype, 9 pre-production aircraft and 40 production aircraft) were soon succeeded by the improved Ki-44-IIa Ko (355 built), which had a different oil cooler design, but retained the armament and telescopic gun sight of the Ki-44-I. This was followed by the Ki-44-IIb Otsu (394 built), which saw the fuselage-mounted 7.7-mm guns replaced by 12.7-mm ones, and had provisions for two 40-mm recoilless cannons, which in practice proved to be unreliable and were soon replaced by two additional 12.7-mm guns. The ultimate design, the Ki-44-IIc Hei (427 built), saw the telescopic gun sight of the earlier models replaced by an internally-mounted reflector sight, and sported a standard armament of 4 12.7-mm machine guns. Design on an improved variant, the cannon-armed Ki-44-III, was halted in favour of its replacement, the Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate, with the last two Ki-44s being built in January of 1945.

Following the end of the Second World War, abandoned Japanese aircraft were used by both the Chinese Nationalist (Taiwanese) Air Force and the People's Liberation Army during the 1946-1949 Chinese Revolution, with some aircraft surviving in People's Liberation Army Air Force service into the early 1950s, serving amongside Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 and MiG-15 fighter jets.

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Yoshio Yoshida was born in 1921 in Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. In 1939 he enrolled as an officer candidate in the 55th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Academy, completing his studies in March 1942. After this, he attended the Akeno Flying School, where he was trained as a fighter pilot.

Yoshida entered service in October of 1942 with the 70th Hikō Sentai, which flew the Nakajima Ki-44, and which was based in Manchuria. Following the July 1944 attacks by the USAAF's XX Bomber Command on Japanese military forces in the Anshan area of Manchuria, Yoshida's Sentai was moved there to provide air defence. On September 8th 1944, he took part in his first air combat when a force of 108 B-29s attacked on a bombing raid, claiming one probable.

When the US bombing raids on mainland Japan started, the 70th Sentai was transferred to Kawashi Air Base in Chiba near Tokyo, to provide air defence. The 70th Sentai started receiving the newer Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate; however the 3rd Chutai, led by Captain Yoshida retained its Ki-44s, which were now nearing obsolescence. During the night of April 13th 1945, Yoshida scored his first confirmed kill against a B-29; two nights later, he scored a second confirmed kill. On May 24th, Yoshida added a further two B-29s to his tally, and the next night he attained Flying Ace status with one further confirmed B-29 kill. Following this, one further confirmed B-29 kill was added to his tally either in late-May or early-June 1945. For his actions as a fighter pilot, Captain Yoshio Yoshida was awarded the Bukosho, his citation mentioning the bravery of his actions against the B-29 in the obsolescent Ki-44.

Before the 3rd Chutai converted to the Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate in June of 1945, Yoshida was selected for medical testing and conversion to the rocket-powered Mitsubishi J8M Shūsui - Japan's copy of the German Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet - but the project was cut short by Japan's unconditional surrender on August 15th 1945.

Captain Yoshio Yoshida's final tally was 6 kills and 1 probable, all scored against B-29 bombers while flying the Nakajima Ki-44-II Shōki. His victories are all the more remarkable, as they were all scored at night, in a fighter aircraft which was only designed as a day-fighter design, and which carried no radar or other specialised equipment for night-fighting operations.

Little is known of Yoshio Yoshida's post-war career; it is though he passed away sometime before 2000.

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1/72 Hasegawa 00291
Inventory number 1131 - purchased February 3rd 2017
Fourth model completed in 2017

Description
Nakajima Ki-44-IIc Hei Shōki (Allied reporting name "Tojo") of 3rd Chutai, 70th Hikō Sentai, Imperial Japanese Army, June 1945. Flown by Captain Yoshio Yoshida (6 kills).

The Nakajima Ki-44 Shōki or "Army Fighter Type 2" was a Japanese Army fighter aircraft, which first flew in August of 1940, and entered service in December of 1941. The Shōki was a radical departure of the then-usual fighter philosophy of the Japanese Army - rather than manoeuvrability, it was built for maximum airspeed and rate of climb. The resulting design was one which could match allied designs in climb and dive. Contrary to the contemporary Ki-43, the Ki-44 was heavily armed, the original design carrying two 7.7-mm and two 12.7-mm machine guns (compared to the Ki-43's twin 7.7-mm gun).

The short wing and resulting high wing loading meant that the Ki-44 was less manoeuvrable than Imperial Japanese Army pilots were used to, and this and its higher landing speed initially made the type unpopular among them. While this also meant the type was a poor dogfighter, it was primarily used as an air-defence fighter, equipping 12 Sentai, with some aircraft also equiping the air force of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo.

The original Ki-44-I design, of which 50 were produced (1 prototype, 9 pre-production aircraft and 40 production aircraft) were soon succeeded by the improved Ki-44-IIa Ko (355 built), which had a different oil cooler design, but retained the armament and telescopic gun sight of the Ki-44-I. This was followed by the Ki-44-IIb Otsu (394 built), which saw the fuselage-mounted 7.7-mm guns replaced by 12.7-mm ones, and had provisions for two 40-mm recoilless cannons, which in practice proved to be unreliable and were soon replaced by two additional 12.7-mm guns. The ultimate design, the Ki-44-IIc Hei (427 built), saw the telescopic gun sight of the earlier models replaced by an internally-mounted reflector sight, and sported a standard armament of 4 12.7-mm machine guns. Design on an improved variant, the cannon-armed Ki-44-III, was halted in favour of its replacement, the Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate, with the last two Ki-44s being built in January of 1945.

Following the end of the Second World War, abandoned Japanese aircraft were used by both the Chinese Nationalist (Taiwanese) Air Force and the People's Liberation Army during the 1946-1949 Chinese Revolution, with some aircraft surviving in People's Liberation Army Air Force service into the early 1950s, serving amongside Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 and MiG-15 fighter jets.

----------

Yoshio Yoshida was born in 1921 in Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. In 1939 he enrolled as an officer candidate in the 55th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Academy, completing his studies in March 1942. After this, he attended the Akeno Flying School, where he was trained as a fighter pilot.

Yoshida entered service in October of 1942 with the 70th Hikō Sentai, which flew the Nakajima Ki-44, and which was based in Manchuria. Following the July 1944 attacks by the USAAF's XX Bomber Command on Japanese military forces in the Anshan area of Manchuria, Yoshida's Sentai was moved there to provide air defence. On September 8th 1944, he took part in his first air combat when a force of 108 B-29s attacked on a bombing raid, claiming one probable.

When the US bombing raids on mainland Japan started, the 70th Sentai was transferred to Kawashi Air Base in Chiba near Tokyo, to provide air defence. The 70th Sentai started receiving the newer Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate; however the 3rd Chutai, led by Captain Yoshida retained its Ki-44s, which were now nearing obsolescence. During the night of April 13th 1945, Yoshida scored his first confirmed kill against a B-29; two nights later, he scored a second confirmed kill. On May 24th, Yoshida added a further two B-29s to his tally, and the next night he attained Flying Ace status with one further confirmed B-29 kill. Following this, one further confirmed B-29 kill was added to his tally either in late-May or early-June 1945. For his actions as a fighter pilot, Captain Yoshio Yoshida was awarded the Bukosho, his citation mentioning the bravery of his actions against the B-29 in the obsolescent Ki-44.

Before the 3rd Chutai converted to the Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate in June of 1945, Yoshida was selected for medical testing and conversion to the rocket-powered Mitsubishi J8M Shūsui - Japan's copy of the German Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet - but the project was cut short by Japan's unconditional surrender on August 15th 1945.

Captain Yoshio Yoshida's final tally was 6 kills and 1 probable, all scored against B-29 bombers while flying the Nakajima Ki-44-II Shōki. His victories are all the more remarkable, as they were all scored at night, in a fighter aircraft which was only designed as a day-fighter design, and which carried no radar or other specialised equipment for night-fighting operations.

Little is known of Yoshio Yoshida's post-war career; it is though he passed away sometime before 2000.

----------

1/72 Hasegawa 00291
Inventory number 1131 - purchased February 3rd 2017
Fourth model completed in 2017