Mansyu/Manpi Ki-98 Fighter Over Luzon, Philippines
Silver Witch Coasting - Mansyu/Manpi Ki-98 Fighter Enroute To Attack
Royal New Zealand Airbase in Luzon, Philippines, September 2, 1945
by Richard Lewis Mendes 



The Mansyu (or Mampi) Ki-98 was designed as a single-seat short range high altitude
fighter to counter the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. An all-metal twin boom design, it was
to have been powered by a 2,200 horsepower Mitsubishi Ha 211-Ru turbosupercharged
radial engine buried mid-fuselage driving a four-bladed pusher propeller. As of July 31,
1998 when this article was written, it is not known whether mock-ups or actual
prototypes were built of this airplane. In any event, it is believed all further development
of the Ki-98 ended with the Japanese surrender in 1945.

If put into production, the Ki-98 was to have a wingspan of 36.95 feet (11.26 meters) and
a length of 37.40 feet (11.40 meters). Maximum speed was estimated to be 454 miles
per hour (mph, 730 kilometers per hour, km/h), maximum altitude 39,370 feet (12,000
meters) and a maximum range of 621 miles (1,000 kilometers). Armament consisted of
one 37 millimeter Ho 204 and two 20 millimeter Ho 5 cannons mounted in the nose.

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