Ki-36
Role	Two-seat Army Co-operation Aircraft Type of aircraft
Manufacturer	Tachikawa Aircraft Company Ltd
First flight	20 April 1938
Primary users	Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Royal Thai Air Force
Produced	1938 - 1944
Number built	1,334
Variants	Tachikawa Ki-55

The Tachikawa Ki-36 (named Ida in Allied reporting code) was a Japanese army co-operation aircraft of World War II. It was a two-seat, low-wing monoplane with a single piston engine and fixed, tailwheel-type undercarriage.

Design and development

The prototype, fitted with a 450 hp (336 kW) Hitachi Army Type 98 Ha-13 engine, first flew on 20 April 1938. Having outperformed the Mitsubishi Ki-35 in comparative trials, the Ki-36 was designated the Army Type 98 Direct Co-operation Aircraft and ordered into production in November 1938. Production ended in January 1944 after a total of 1,334 Ki-36 had been built (Tachikawa 862 and Kawasaki 472).^[1]

Operational history

The Ki-36 first saw action in China where it saw success. Later, in the Pacific, it proved excessively vulnerable to opposing fighters. It was thereafter redeployed to the safer theater of China. Towards the end of the war, the Ki-36 was employed as a kamikaze aircraft with a bomb of 500-kg (1,102-lb) fitted externally.^[2]

Variants

• Ki-55: Two-seat advanced trainer version.
• Ki-72: An evolved version with a 600-hp (447-kW) Hitachi Ha-38 engine and retractable undercarriage. Not built.

Operators

 People's Republic of China

• Chinese Communist Air Force operated two captured aircraft postwar as trainers until their retirement in early 1950s.

 Indonesia

• Indonesian People's Security Force

 Japan

• Imperial Japanese Army Air Force

 Thailand

• Royal Thai Air Force

Specifications (Ki-36)

Data from Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War,^[2] and The Concise Guide to Axis Aircraft of World War II ^[3]

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Length: 8 m (26 ft 3 in)
• Wingspan: 11.8 m (38 ft 9 in)
• Height: 3.64 m (11 ft 11 in)
• Wing area: 20 m² (220 sq ft)
• Airfoil: root: NACA 23014; tip: NACA 23006^[4]
• Empty weight: 1,247 kg (2,749 lb)
• Gross weight: 1,660 kg (3,660 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Hitachi Ha13a (Army Type 98 450hp Air Cooled Radial) 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 380 kW (510 hp) for take-off

350 kW (470 hp) at 1,700 m (5,600 ft)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 348 km/h (216 mph, 188 kn)
• Cruise speed: 235 km/h (146 mph, 127 kn)
• Range: 1,235 km (767 mi, 667 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 8,150 m (26,740 ft)
• Time to altitude: 3,000 m (9,800 ft) in 6 minutes 39 seconds
• Wing loading: 83 kg/m² (17 lb/sq ft)
• Power/mass: 0.23 kW/kg (0.14 hp/lb)

Armament

• Guns: one fixed, forward-firing 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Type 89 machine gun, one flexible 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Type 89 machine gun in the rear cockpit.
• Bombs: up to 350 kg (772 lb) external bombload