WOW398 Oscar ‘Blue Kamikaze’

Description

The Ki-43 was a single-engine land-based tactical fighter used by the Japanese army air force during WW2.

The Allied reporting name was “Oscar“, but it was often called the “Army Zero” by American pilots because it bore a certain resemblance to the A6M Zero, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s counterpart to the Ki-43. Both aircraft had generally similar layout and lines, and also used essentially the same engine, with similar round cowlings and bubble type canopies (the Oscar‘s being distinctly smaller and having much less framing than the A6M). While relatively easy for a trained eye to tell apart with the “finer” lines of the Ki-43’s fuselage – especially towards the tail and more tapered wing planform; in the heat of battle, given the brief glimpses and distraction of combat, Allied aviators frequently made mistakes in enemy aircraft identification in the heat of a dogfight, reportedly having fought “Zeros” in areas where there were no Navy fighters.

Like the Zero, the radial-engined Ki-43 was light and easy to fly and became legendary for its combat performance in East Asia in the early years of the war. It could outmaneuver any opponent, but did not initially have armor or self sealing fuel tanks, and its armament was poor until its final version, which was produced as late as 1945.  Allied pilots often reported that the nimble Ki-43s were difficult targets but burned easily or broke apart with few hits.

Total production amounted to 5,919 aircraft. Many of these were used during the last months of the war for kamikaze missions against the American fleet. Our 1/30 scale hand carved Mahogany model measures 29cm in length and has a 36cm wingspan. This blue Oscar belonged to the 20th Sentai (1st Chutai) and like many of the units aircraft took part in Kamikaze attacks against the Allied fleet off Okinawa in  1945.

The figures and mats are shown for scale reference purposes only and are not included.