NAKAJIMA KI-115 "TSURUGI" 1945

Description

The Nakajima Ki-115 Tsurugi (Sabre) was a one-man kamikaze aircraft developed by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in the closing stages of World War II in late 1945. The Imperial Japanese Navy called this aircraft Tōka (Wisteria Blossom). The aircraft was very simple, being made from "non-strategic" materials (mainly wood and steel). To save weight, it was to use a droppable take-off gear (there was to be no landing), so a simple welded steel tube undercarriage was attached to the aircraft. This, however, was found to give unmanageable ground-handling characteristics, so a simple shock absorber was then incorporated. The cross section of the fuselage was circular and not elliptical as were most planes of this size and type; such a fuselage was easier to make. The war, however, ended before they could be used. Individually, they would have been rather inefficient weapon, but used in waves of hundreds or thousands they could have been quite destructive. The only surviving instance of this aircraft is at the Garber Facility of the National Air and Space Museum (Suitland, Maryland), in disassembled condition. (Scale : 1/72e)