alternatehistory.com

The Ki-43 was the most produced Japanese Army plane of World War II, and the second most overall, to only the Navy's A6M Zero. However, while Ki-43 was just as good as the Zero and arguably better, it had one problem the Zero did not, inadequate armament. The Ki-43 only had two 12.7 mm machine guns for most of its campaigns. An attempt to introduce 20 mm cannons was made near the end of the war, but was obviously too late. However the Japanese Army had a gun they could have provided the Ki-43, the 20 mm Ho-3 cannon, used in the Ki-45. So what if the Ki-43 had better armament from when it was introduced in 1941? How would this affect the air campaign in Burma and the Flying Tigers, or the B-29 bombing raids on Japan?
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