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U.S.
Army. Via ibiblio.org |
Mitsubishi Ki-21-IIa "Sally"
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Crew |
5 | |||||||||||||||
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Dimensions |
73'10" by 52'6" by 15"11" 22.50m by 16.00m by 4.85m |
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Weights |
13,328-23,391 lbs 6045-10,610 kg |
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Maximum speed |
302 mph at 15,485 feet 486 km/h at 4720 meters |
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Climb rate |
25 feet per second 7.6 meters per second |
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Service ceiling |
32,810 feet 10,000 meters |
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| 2 1450 hp (1081 kW) Mitsubishi Ha-101 14-cylinder two-row radial engines, driving constant speed three bladed metal propellers. | ||||||||||||||||
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Armament |
5 7.7mm
Type
89 Single machine guns in
nose, ventral, and two beam positions. 1 7.7mm Type 89 Special machine gun in dorsal position. 1 7.7mm Type 89 Model 2 Te-1 machine gun in tail. |
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Bomb load |
Normal 1653 lb (750kg) Maximum 2205 lb (1000kg) |
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Range |
932 miles (1500km) normal 1680 miles (2700km) maximum |
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Variants |
The Ki-21-I used
two 850 hp (634 kW) Nakajima Ha-5-Kai
engines and had just three guns. Its
bomb load was
1650 lbs (750kg.) The Ib added two guns and a larger bomb bay. The fuel tanks were partially self-sealing. The Ic added a sixth gun
and more fuel capacity. The IIb replaced the dorsal greenhouse canopy of earlier versions with a turret containing a 12.7mm Type 1 machine gun. |
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The Ki-21 was the Japanese
Army’s principal bomber
during
the China
Incident. It continued in use throughout the
Pacific War, with some committed to combat in the Philippines
as late as 1944. Like most Japanese
bombers, it was lightly constructed and initially had no
self-sealing
fuel tanks, and it became an easy target for Allied fighters.
The design dated back to 1936 and came in response
to a Japanese Army request for an aircraft to match the best
foreign
twin-engine bombers. The Mitsubishi design team, led by Nakata and
Ozawa,
completed two prototypes in December 1936. The Army could not
choose
between the Ki-21 and the competing Ki-19 and ordered improved
prototypes in June 1937. The improved Ki-21 easily won the
competition
and went into production in early 1938. "Sally" was a considerably
leap
forward for Japanese Army aviation, and it was well liked by its
crews;
but, by 1941, it was already obsolescent.
The initial Allied code name for this aircraft was
"Jane," but this was quickly changed to "Sally," apparently
because MacArthur
did not
appreciate having a Japanese bomber named after his wife. The
Ki-IIb
variant was named "Gwen" until it was realized that this was
simply a
new variant of "Sally" with the dorsal greenhouse canopy replaced
with
a turret. This was an attempt to reduce the vulnerability of
"Sally" to
modern Allied fighter aircraft.
A number of Ki-21-Ias were converted to transports pending
delivery of the Ki-57 "Topsy".
During
the Lae
campaign, the Japanese experimented with the use of "Sally" as a PT boat hunter, in
an
attempt to protect their barge traffic from Rabaul to New Guinea. This proved
unsuccessful. "Sally" was also used in special operations, such as
the
raid on Yontan airfield on Okinawa following its capture
by the Americans.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2009, 2014 by Kent G. Budge. Index
