FSX/FS2004 Nakajima Ki 27 Japanese WW2 Fighter When in mid-1935 Kawasaki, Mitsubishi and Nakajima were instructed by the Imperial Japanese Army to build competitive prototypes of advanced fighter aircraft, Nakajima responded with a single-seat monoplane fighter derived from the company's Type P.E., which it had started to develop as a private venture. Service trials proved, the Kawasaki Ki-28 to be fastest of the three contenders, but the Nakajima Ki- 27 was by far the most manoeuvrable and, on that basis, 10 pre-production examples were ordered for further service evaluation. Following further testing m late 1937 the type was ordered into production as the Army Type 97 Fighter Model A (Nakajima Ki-27a). Late production aircraft which introduced some refinements, including a further improved cockpit canopy, had the designation Ki-27b. Nakajima could not have guessed that 3,399 aircraft would be built, by Nakajima (2,020) and Mansyu (1,379), before production came to a halt at the end of 1942, but the type's entry into service over northern China in March 1938 gave an immediate appreciation of its capability, the Ki-27s becoming masters of the airspace until confronted later by the faster Soviet Polikarpov I-16 fighters. At the beginning of the Pacific war the Ki-27s took part in the invasion of Burma, Malaya, the Netherlands East Indies and the Philippines. Allocated the Allied codename 'Nate' (initially 'Abdul' in the China- Burma-India theatre), the Ki-27 had considerable success against the Allies in the initial stages before more modern fighters became available. When this occurred they were transferred for air defence of the home islands, remaining deployed in this capacity until 1943 when they became used increasingly as advanced trainers. As with many Japanese aircraft, their final use was in a kamikaze role. . GMAX mdls by A.F.Scrub. The preference of Japanese fighter pilots for the Ki-27's high rate of turn caused the Army to focus excessively on maneuverability, a decision which later handicapped the development of faster and more heavily armed fighters. The Ki-27 served until the beginning of World War II in the Pacific, escorting bombers attacking Malaya, Singapore, Netherlands East Indies, Burma and the Philippines (where it initially fared poorly against the Brewster Buffalo). The type also saw extensive action against the American Volunteer Group in the early months of the war. Soon outclassed by the American Curtiss P-40 Warhawks, the Ki-27 was replaced in front line service by the Nakajima Ki-43, while surviving examples continued to serve as a trainer. The Ki-27 was also exported for use with Manchukuo and Thai armed forces, seeing combat with both. In Thai service, Ki-27s reportedly damaged two North American P-51 Mustangs and shot down one Lockheed P-38 Lightning. In the final months of the war, desperate lack of aircraft forced the Japanese to utilize all available machines, and the Ki-27 was no exception. Some were equipped with up to 500 kg (1,100 lb) of explosives for kamikaze attacks, but some were redeployed as fighters, suffering terrible losses as on 16 February 1945 when the 39th Educational Flight Regiment scrambled 16 Nate trainers from Yokoshiba Airfield to oppose a massive air raid from U.S. Task Force 58 carrier group, losing six aircraft with more damaged and five pilots killed, in return damaging at least one Hellcat and possibly downing a second. Effects -------- -On startup there is automatic engine smoke. -Then follow the exhaust flames with smoke. -Wing vortex effect appears by default at 2.5g or quick roll rate. -Continuous blue flames with smoke if engine is running . -Nose guns with flash, smoke and falling cartridges can be triggered with the standard Strobe key (O). It is much nicer however if you put the FS2004/FSX standard Strobe key (O) to the trigger from your joystick. You can change this in the Key menu. Installation: ======== -Unzip " Ki27" into a temporary file and move the "Ki27" folder into the main Aircraft directory. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -Read instructions carefully when installing the gauges , say YES...when asked if the gauges sources should be trusted. If you say no....most of the gauges are not going to work ! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -Leave all gauges and .Cab in the Ki27 panel folder. (You can also move them to the flightsim\gauges folder.Let them overwrite original gauges, this cannot harm.) -Copy the effects into the Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator ...\effects folder and the 20can.wav into the Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator ...\sound folder. Copy the tracer1.bmp into the effects\texture folder. IMPORTANT : For FS2004 change the FS9_Wing_Guns.fx into FX_Wing_Guns.fx and remove the original one. -Lights use panel light shift+L key. -exhaust effects use wing/taxi/logo. Automatic -guns use strobe. -CTRL-L commands lights. If having trouble with prop and cockpit transparencies in FSX acceleration, copy the glass.bmp and prop2blade3. bmp files from the Acceleration.texture into the Ki27 texture folder. CREDITS ======= Special thanks to : -GMAX for the drawing program and Microsoft for their makmdls.mdk. -Wolfi for most of the textures. LEGAL: ====== The project is released as freeware. You may modify it and repaint it. You may upload this file to another website as long as it is not for profit. You need the written permission of the original authors to use any of these files for commercial purposes, otherwise a simple credit would be nice. Non commercial repaints-remakes are welcome but I would appreciate very much receiving a copy of your model. This file should not cause any problems with your computer, but I accept no responsibility if you think it does. Happy Landings!! A.F.Scrub, February 2013. af_scrubbypc@hotmail.com