Nakajima Ki-27

The Nakajima Ki‑27, known to the Allies as “Nate,” entered service with the Imperial Japanese Army in 1937 and quickly became the primary fighter of the early Pacific campaign. Its sleek, low‑drag, all‑metal cantilever wing and powerful nine‑cylinder Nakajima Ha‑1b radial engine gave it a top speed of 470 km/h and a remarkable turn‑rate that allowed Japanese pilots to dominate dogfights against slower, less agile opponents. In the mid‑1940s the aircraft was transferred to the Scientific Research Institute of the Air Force RCC for a series of systematic trials aimed at evaluating high‑altitude performance, stall characteristics, and the effects of various armament configurations. Engineers at the institute equipped the airframes with instrumentation that recorded pressure distribution and vibration data, helping to validate wind‑tunnel predictions and to refine control‑surface geometry. The results fed directly into the development of later Nakajima designs such as the Ki‑43 and Ki‑61, and provided the Japanese aviation community with its first quantitative data set on monoplane fighter handling. The Ki‑27 tests therefore represent a pivotal moment when empirical research began to shape combat aircraft design, underscoring the model’s lasting influence on both wartime tactics and post‑war aeronautical engineering.

Nakajima

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