The Mitsubishi Ki-109 was a specialized derivative of the Mitsubishi Ki-67 heavy bomber detailed elsewhere on this site. The Ki-109 was designed specifically to deal with the growing threat posed by the high-attitude American Boeing B-29 Superfortress over the Japanese mainland. As such, the Ki-67 was selected for its adequate performance specs and considered for a new role as a bomber hunter.
Initially, the Ki-109 program was to utilize two Ki-109 aircraft working in conjunction with one version fitted with a searchlight and powerful radar while the other operated with a powerful large caliber weapon. This "hunter-killer" pairing was to work in unison at detecting incoming enemy threats and eliminating them in total darkness. The system, however, proved to be quite complicated and thusly only a single Ki-109 design would emerge, now as a day interceptor, though still mounting a large caliber weapon.
The Ki-109 retained many of the visual qualities of the Ki-67 heavy bomber. Among the chief changes were the lack of much defensive armament and the use of more powerful engines over her predecessor (2 x Mitsubishi Ha-104 series piston engines at 1,900 horsepower). The Ki-109 was defensed by only a single 12.7mm heavy caliber machine gun in the tail. Beyond that, her armament was all-offensive and consisted of a 75mm anti-aircraft cannon in the nose. This system was manually loaded but could be fired with the Ki-109 aircraft still well out of the range of the B-29's defensive machine gun armament.
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AIR-TO-AIR COMBAT
General ability to actively engage other aircraft of similar form and function, typically through guns, missiles, and/or aerial rockets.
INTERCEPTION
Ability to intercept inbound aerial threats by way of high-performance, typically speed and rate-of-climb.
58.9 ft (17.95 meters) Length
73.8 ft (22.50 meters) Width/Span
19.0 ft (5.80 meters) Height
16,367 lb (7,424 kilograms) Empty Weight
23,810 lb (10,800 kilograms) Maximum Take-Off Weight
STANDARD:
1 x 75mm Type 88 cannon in nose position
1 x 12.7mm HO-103 Type 1 machine gun in tail position.
0 Hardpoints
Ki-67 - Bomber Variant on which the Ki-109 is based on.
Ki-109 - Heavy Fighter Bomber Interceptor; fitted with Mitsubishi Ha-104 piston engines of 1,900 horsepower each; 1 x 75mm cannon in nose position and 1 x 12.7mm machine gun in defensive tail gun position; 22 examples produced as armed version only (as in Ki-109b model proposal below).
Ki-109a - Proposed "hunter" version fitted with radar and searchlight to be used in conjunction with "killer" model.
Ki-109b - Proposed "killer" version fitted with heavy armament to be used in conjunction with "hunter" model.
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