Throughout WWII, the Japanese aviation industry relied pretty much on air-cooled radial engines to power everything from fighters to bombers to transports and liaison aircraft. They were good at it and while the power produced was rarely world class, they were reliable and fit in with the light aircraft that Japan was used to producing. However, the war in Europe saw the skies filled with fighters that used liquid cooled engines. These were able to produce more power than contemporary radials and offered the benefit of improved streamlining.

So it was that the Japanese went to Germany and imported several Bf-109E fighters, several DB.601 engines and a license to build the engines. It was decided that what was needed were a pair of fighters powered by this engine. One would be a 'heavy' fighter with more powerful armament and the other typical of planes currently in service, a 'light' fighter with basically rifle calibre guns. Kawasaki's main designer felt that something in between was what was really needed. But he didn't pay the bills and so Kawasaki started work on the heavy fighter first.

This plane was to become the Ki-60 and three prototypes were built, all of them using German made DB.601s. The building of the engine in Japan, soon to be called the Ha-40 was not going all that well. Japan did not have the experience in metallurgy that the Germans had so had to adapt what they had and it was a tough slog. Such was the situation that even when the engine became reliable to enter full production, it was a slow build. Even then, the engine was found to be quite complicated compared to what they were used to doing and in the field, engine maintenance became a major issue.

Back at the Ki-60. The prototypes were completed, but it was found that their performance did not meet what was hoped for. The aircraft were overweight and so performance suffered. Still, they were put through their paces and much was learned, even though the program was eventually cancelled with no preproduction order.

Instead, the Ki-61 was started and was not the light fighter that was originally envisioned, but a medium fighter that incorporated speed, maneuverability and a reasonable armament that would help the Ki-61 hold its own in combat. Several variants were developed, but throughout its life, engines were always an issue. Part of this was due to slow production, lack of quality control and a nearly non-existent supply line that often left planes grounded for even small items. The death blow to the type came with the bombing of the engine factory, which left dozens of completed airframes without power plants.

A crash development program was started to adapt a bomber engine to the Ki-61 airframe and this resulted in the very successful Ki-100. Naturally, it was too little too late and while the Ki-100 was a fine airplane, it was not superior to what the Allies were fielding, though it was quite close.

This book covers the events that led up to the development of the Ki-60 as well as the full development story of this plane and the later Ki-61 and Ki-100. All of the different variants are covered and this includes some excellent scale drawings, including a pair of huge supplementary sheets in 1/32 scale. Full information on the operational career is also provided and we get several pages of stats, information on camouflage and markings schemes as well as several pages of large, full color profiles.

In all, it is a superb volume and one that anyone with an interest in this plane should have on their shelves.