Mitsubishi Ki-67. Part two. Mitsubishi Ki-167 and Ki-109.

 

The Mitsubishi Ki-67's performance, when compared with other contemporaneous bombers, specially with the American ones, was remarkable. It had a level-flight top speed of 537 km/h (334 mph) making it faster than the B-25 Mitchell or the B-26 Marauder, but slightly slower than the A-20 Havoc. It had good maneuverability in high-speed dives, excellent sustainable rate of climb and outstanding agility with excellent turn rate, small turn radius and the ability to turn at low speeds. 

The Ki-67 was used in level bombing and torpedo bombing raids, as it could carry one torpedo attached under the fuselage. It was initially used in strikes against the US 3rd Fleet in Formosa and Ryukyu islands during 1944 and later, during the Battle of Okinawa, mainland China, French Indochina, Karafuto prefecture (AKA South Sakhalin - against the Soviets) and against B-29 air bases in both Saipan and Tinian. For these missions a special variant was used, equipped with three remote-controlled downwards-firing turrets.

There were also some kamikaze variants which saw action during the Okinawa campaign. One such variant was the Ki-67 "To-Go" which was an unarmed regular Ki-67 with two 800 kg (1.760 lb) bombs in bomb compartment. The Ki-167, nicknamed as "Sakura-dan" or "Sakura-bullet" was another kamikaze machine equipped with one shaped charge thermite bomb of 2.900 kg (6.400 lb) in the fuselage, just behind cockpit. The shape of the bomb projected the blast forward, projecting a jet which could reach nearly a mille with a blast radius of 300 m (980 ft). This variant was designed with the aim of destroying emplacements and tank concentrations in mind. Only 9 machines were produced.

The Mitsubishi Ki-109 was a twin-engined fighter variant which took advantage of the Ki-67's good maneuverability. It was foresaw as a night fighter first and day fighter later. 

The night-fighter variant, was just but a project, to work together with another Ki-109a, equipped with a radar/reflector (just like the Douglas Havoc II Turbinlite concept, but using invisible radio beams instead of a powerful searchlight) and the Ki-109b which was to be armed with a 37 mm Ho-203 cannon placed in an upward-firing configuration (similar to the German Schrage Musik, to destroy the target.

The day-fighter variant, of which two prototypes and 22 production machines were made, was armed with a 75 mm Type 88 Heavy cannon in the nose and one defensive 12,7 mm (0,5 in) Ho-103 Type 1 machine gun in the tail. It was powered by two Mitsubishi Ha-104 engines yielding 1.900 hp of power each. Some machines were powered with the supercharged version of the Ha-104 engine, the Ha-104 Ru.

There were many never-completed variants of the Ki-67, like the Ki-112, a bomber escort variant armed with eight 12,7 mm turrets and one 20 mm cannon, the Q2M1 Taiyo, a radar-equipped anti-submarine version of the Ki-67, intended for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), the Ki-97, an intended transport conversion and the Ki-69 which was another escort fighter concept.

Sources:

1.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Ki-67

2. Bunrin Do - Famous Airplanes of the World 98 - Mitsubishi Army Type 4 Heavy Bomber (Ki-67) (Translated as best as we could)

Mitsubishi Ki-67, part one.

 

The Mitsubishi Ki-67 was a Japanese twin-engined bomber produced by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and employed both by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) and the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) during World War 2. 

In 1941, the IJAAF issued an specification for a successor of the Nakajima Ki-49. This specification sought for a high-speed twin-engined heavy bomber which could be employed against the Soviets over the Manchurian-Siberian border. Unlike other Japanese bombers of the time, it was requested to have good defensive armament ,the ability to resist heavy battle damage and to be highly maneuverable to allow it carry out dive bombing attacks and low level escapes.

The Ki-67 was designed by a team led by Kyunojo Ozawa, chief engineer at Mitsubishi. It was an all-metal mid-winged monoplane with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. It was also equipped with self-sealing fuel tanks and armour. Those features were common in American and British built aircraft but they were rare in the Japanese ones. It was powered by two 1.900 hp Mitsubishi Ha-104 radial engines and had a defensive armament of one 20 mm Ho-5 cannon placed in the dorsal turret plus five 12,7 mm Ho-103 machine guns, in nose, tail and each beam positions respectively.

It could carry a payload of 1.070 Kg (2.360 lb) in its internal bomb bay. This, made the Ki-67 a medium bomber, according to American and Western doctrines. In comparison, the North American B-25 Mitchell had a payload of 2.722 kg (6.000 lb), the Martin B-26 Marauder up to 1.814 kg (4.000 lb) and the Vickers Wellington up to 2.000 kg (4.500 lb). However, they rarely flew fully loaded as their range was reduced significantly. Japanese doctrine almost always bid for greater ranges with their maximum rated payload, giving this way, a strategical bombing capability, unlike their Allied counterparts, which were considered as tactical bombers.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Ki-67

2. Bunrin Do - Famous Airplanes of the World 98 - Mitsubishi Army Type 4 Heavy Bomber (Ki-67) (Translated as best as we could)