The IJAAF remained convinced that fast attack bombers like the Ki-21, Ki-49 and, eventually, the Ki-67 were the best option, as they could operate closely with advancing infantry units.
The Nakajima Ki-49 Donryu (‘Dragon Eater’), codenamed ‘Helen’ by the Allies, was a twin-engined Japanese bomber designed to undertake daylight attacks without the protection of escort fighters.
Consequently, while it was officially known as the Army Type 100 Heavy Bomber, its formidable defensive armament and armour were so heavy that they restricted the Ki-49 to payloads comparable to those of smaller medium bombers.
However, as told by George Eleftheriou in his book Nakajima Ki-49 ‘Helen’ Units, the Ki-49 was hampered through its brief service life by unreliable engines. Nakajima’s high-performance powerplants were notorious for not delivering their promised power outputs, and both the Ha-41 and the Ha-109 were no exception. Issues with reliability and maintenance were the most common complaints lodged by crews. By comparison, the ‘Sally’s’ Mitsubishi Ha-101 engines received nothing but praise from air- and groundcrew alike for being both highly reliable and easy to maintain.
Nakajima had been delivering ‘Helens’ from its factories for two years by the time the Ki-67 started to reach frontline units in late 1943, at which point the Ki-49 became instantly obsolete. The ‘Peggy’ was the ultimate Japanese heavy bomber, with new, powerful and reliable engines, better armament and a greater top speed than even the Ki-49-III, then under development, could match. Furthermore, the Ki-67 was the only Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) bomber that could carry a torpedo for attacks against enemy warships — a necessary feature in the final 18 months of the war when crews flying `Sallys’ or ‘Helens’ were trying in vain to sink Allied ships through skip bombing.
But even these improvements were not enough to rectify the biggest failing of all IJAAF ‘heavy’ bomber designs — none of them were heavy enough- `Sallys’ and ‘Helens’ could carry a maximum bombload of 1000-kg, while the ‘Peggy’ was limited to just 800-kg. The IJAAF was well aware the B-17 Flying Fortress and its ability to carry 3600-kg of ordnance, having captured a number of airworthy examples in the Philippines in 1942 and then flight-tested them for at least two years. Yet, while the jubakutai (heavy bomber units) were desperately in need of four-engined heavy bombers of the same ilk, the IJAAF remained convinced that fast attack bombers like the Ki-21, Ki-49 and, eventually, the Ki-67 were the best option, as they could operate closely with advancing infantry units.
When the IJA’s offensive in New Guinea was stopped in late September 1942, the jubakutai were forced to fly defensive harassment missions that they had not had any training for and lacked sufficient numbers to complete with any meaningful results. The IJAAF’s high command failed throughout the Pacific War to see the army air force as a separate weapon that could operate both in cooperation with the infantry but also independently of it. Simply put, the IJAAF was incapable of grasping the strategic bomber concept, remaining wedded to constricting tactical bombers. Perhaps not coincidentally, it mirrored the Luftwaffe in this respect.
While the Japanese military high command viewed the Pacific War as essentially an endless effort to capture more and more territory to prevent the enemy from using it, the Allies had a very specific goal in mind — the defeat of the Empire of Japan— and it used aircraft as the main asset to achieve this. The difference in perception between the two opposing sides reflected the way aircraft were designed and how air power was utilised. While the Allies learnt from their mistakes in the early stages of the war and sought to solve the shortcomings of their aircraft and address their tactical weaknesses, the IJAAF was fatally slow to do so.
Nakajima Ki-49 ‘Helen’ Units is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo credit: Yanagi774, U.S. Air Force and “Akemi shashinkan” at Chitose-cho Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan, via Wikipedia
