Luftwaffe Zeros?

The Ki-61 is IMO the third best looking single-engined DB-powered fighter of the war. The other two are the Fiat G.55 (with notable mention to the Re.2005 and Macchi C.205V) and the Heinkel He 100. The Bf-109 just never tried to be streamlined, instead is covered in bulges and intakes.

The G.55 reminds me of the Finnish VL Pyörremyrsky, its northern sibling, which of course never passed the prototype stage during the war. As far as I can see, the two planes had a very similar performance, as well.

Museum_Finnland_VL_Pyoerremyrsky_1.jpg
 
The G.55 reminds me of the Finnish VL Pyörremyrsky, its northern sibling, which of course never passed the prototype stage during the war. As far as I can see, the two planes had a very similar performance, as well.

Museum_Finnland_VL_Pyoerremyrsky_1.jpg
Indeed, looks nearly identical from that pic to a G.55.

The Axis should have made an universal fighter around the DB-600 series engines. Instead of making Pyörremyrsky, Bf-109, He-100, Ki-61, G.55, Re.2005 and Macchi C.205V, just make one fighter with wide-track undercarriage, >330 mph top speed (in early versions), competitive rate of climb, maneuverability, armament, payload (bombs and drop tanks) and endurance. Call it the PanAxis-HUPH - German, Italian, Finnish and Japanese for Hurricane (Hurrikan-Uragano-Pyörremyrsky-Harikēn).

IOTL, there are some serious waste of resources in duplication. In Japan there were two, yes two license-built designs of the DB engine, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aichi_Atsuta and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_Ha40
 
Last edited:
Top