Ki.79a

 

The Mansyu Ki-79 was an advanced trainer based on the Nakajima Ki-27 fighter. The Nakajima Ki-27 had been the first monoplane fighter to enter service with the JAAF, but by 1942 it was virtually obsolete, and a number had been converted to act as trainers. Mansyu went one step further, designing a dedicated training version of the aircraft, the Ki-79. Initiated in 1942 in China. It came out in four variants and remained in production until the end of the war.

 

 

The Ki-79 entered production in two versions. The Ki-79a (Army Type 2 Advanced Trainer Model A) was a single-seat trainer, while the Ki-79b (Army Type 2 Advanced Trainer Model B) was a two-seat trainer with tandem cockpits. The two separate cockpits took up about the same amount of space as the long canopy over the original single cockpit, with the front windscreen in the same place as on the single-seater. Both models shared the same all-metal construction as the Ki-27, were powered by the 510hp Hitachi Ha-13a engine and were armed with one forward firing 7.7mm machine gun.

 

During 1943 the Ki-79 was used to equip the Sendai and Tachiarai Army Flying Schools and the Tokorozawa Army Aviation Maintenance School. The Ki-79b was also used by the Tokyo, Otsu and Oita Army Boys Flying Schools, where they were used to give high school students a taste of flying. The Army designation was Mansyū Army Type 2 Advanced Trainer.

 

Ki.79a

 

During 1944 the JAAF founded a number of Flight Training Companies, and although a total of 1,329 Ki-79s were built numbers began to run short. Mansyu responded by designing the Ki-79c and Ki-79d. Theses aircraft used a new airframe, with a steel framework covered by a plywood skin, designed to reduce the amount of duralumin needed in their construction. The Ki-79c matched the Ki-79a, while the Ki-79d matched the Ki-79b. Both types had only just entered production at Mukden when the war ended. 

 

 

In the post-war period the Ki-79 was used as a trainer by the Chinese Communists. A large number of aircraft were captured intact in Manchuria after the Soviet invasion. The Communists hired Manchurian and Japanese pilots to get the training programme under way, and the Ki-79 became the first standard training aircraft for the People's Liberation Army Air Force.

 

The Ki-79 was also used by Indonesian forces fighting the Dutch on Java and Sumatra, where a number of aircraft were reconstructed after being found on Japanese scrap-heaps. A Ki-79b became the first aircraft to be flown by the Indonesians.  

 

Mansyu Ki.79b (two-seat version) from Air Force of Indonesia, 1946.

 

Ki-79a

entirely built in metal.

Engine: Hitachi Ha.13a-I, 510 hp

Seats: 1

 

Ki-79b

made of metal

Engine: Hitachi Ha.13a-I, 510 hp

Seats: 2

 

Ki-79c

A single-seat trainer

made of wood and steel

Engine: Hitachi Ha.13a-III, 510 hp

Seats: 1

 

Ki-79d

made of wood and steel

Engine: Hitachi Ha.13a-III, 510 hp

Seats: 1