Mitsubishi's Ki-20
 
Topics:
Ki-20
looking for Ki-20 pic.
Ki20 (New)
 
Ki-20
 
Posted By: Alex Crawford <acrawford@blueyonder.co.uk>
Date: Saturday, 20 July 2002, at 10:06 a.m.
 
Did any of the six Ki-20's serve in China or were they just used as transports.
 
Re: Ki-20
 
Posted By: Ted Bradstreet <tbstreet@midmaine.com>
Date: Thursday, 25 July 2002, at 12:59 p.m.
 
In Response To: Ki-20 (Alex Crawford)
 
The Ki-20's were so super-secret that they were never committed to combat and were only revealed to the Japanese public after they were obsolete. They never flew either in China or as transports AFAIK, only in test excercises, probably over Karafutu (Sakhalin).
 
Re: Ki-20
 
Posted By: John MacGregor <JohnMacG6@hotmail.com>
Date: Sunday, 21 July 2002, at 7:58 a.m.
 
In Response To: Ki-20 (Alex Crawford)
 
Alex, none of the Ki20s ever served operationally in China. I'm not sure the even served as transports. IIRC, they only ever served in an 'experimental'/'test' bomber squadron.
 
looking for Ki-20 pic.
 
Posted By: William Knoth <baronred4@cs.com>
Date: Monday, 15 July 2002, at 11:55 p.m.
 
Dose anyone have pic.of the Ki-20 heavy bomber?i know of just 4 or 5 pic. all at a distance .I am making a 1/72 scale model of the ki-20 .I'm going to paint it in s comaflage .I know it was not used in battle, and they were all painted overall light grey-green but it's going to look good with the s scheme.It's a what-if paint job!
 
Re: looking for Ki-20 pic.
 
Posted By: Elephtheriou George <arawasi_g@hotmail.com>
Date: Tuesday, 16 July 2002, at 7:58 p.m.
 
In Response To: looking for Ki-20 pic. (William Knoth)
 
Please go to the "SEARCH" of this board and look for any messages containing the key word "Ki-20". You will find some translations regarding this plane, that I have no idea why they are not saved in the "translations" section...
 
Re: looking for Ki-20 pic.
 
Posted By: William Knoth <baronred4@cs.com>
Date: Tuesday, 16 July 2002, at 9:12 p.m.
 
In Response To: Re: looking for Ki-20 pic. (Elephtheriou George)
 
I have a book just on the Junkers G-38 (170pg.) it's called Junkers G-38 Das erste Grossflugzeug der lufthansa By Fred Guschow , it has three pages on the Ki-20 and a six veiw drawing of it.but, it's in german and I need some one to translate the whole book.
 
Ki-20 references
 
Posted By: Charles Metz <c-metz@uchicago.edu>
Date: Tuesday, 16 July 2002, at 12:45 p.m.
 
In Response To: looking for Ki-20 pic. (William Knoth)
 
According to my database, the Ki-20 is shown in the following books:
 
Mikesh and Abe: 'Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941' (Putnam Aeronautical series [unnumbered]; Naval Institute Press [USA], 1990; 293 pages)
 
Nohara: 'Imperial Japanese Army Warplane [sic]' (Illustrated Warplane History series, No. 6; Green Arrow [Japan], 1997; in Japanese; 212 pages)
 
Nozawa and Komuro: 'Encyclopedia of Japanese Aircraft 1900-1945. Vol. 1: Mitsubishi' (Encyclopedia of Japanese Aircraft series, No. 1; Shuppan-Kyodo Publishers [Japan], 1966; in Japanese; 211 pages [out of print])
 
Schmitt: 'Hugo Junkers and His Aircraft' (Transpress [Germany], 1988; in English; 224 pages [out of print])
 
Scott: 'Emblems of the Rising Sun: Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Unit Markings' (Hikoki [UK], 1999; 129 pages)
 
Turner and Nowarra: 'Junkers: An Aircraft Album' (Arco Aircraft Album series, No. 3; Arco [USA], 1971; 128 pages [out of print])
 
------: 'Camouflage & Markings of I.J.A. Bombers' (Model Art Special Issue series, No. 533; Model Art [Japan], 1999; in Japanese; 178 pages)
Ki20
 
Posted By: Dominique Jadoul <djmodels1999@aol.com>
Date: Monday, 25 November 2002, at 7:21 a.m.
 
Would anyone know where to find info about the Mitsubishi Ki-20 Heavy Bomber (modified Junkers G38)..? I'm looking for pics and /or drawings showing modifications, particularly machine gun 'turrets' on trailing edges of wings...
 
Reposting of an Early Entry by E. Goerge
 
Posted By: Jim Long <jimilong@msn.com>
Date: Tuesday, 26 November 2002, at 11:07 p.m.
 
In Response To: Ki-20 (Dominique Jadoul)
 
Elephtheriou George posted some material on the Ki-20 back in the year 2000. Since it didn't make it to the FAQs board, I kept a copy of it. And I'm reposting it for George. Okay, George?
 
Jim Long, IJA Message Board Moderator
 
Here is George's material on the Ki-20:
 
Ki-20 TRANSLATION
Posted By: Elephtheriou George
Date: Wednesday, 13 December 2000, at 1:55 p.m.
Konnichi wa minnasama,
Translation from Model Art 533, page 97.
TYPE 92 HEAVY BOMBER (MITSUBISHI Ki-20)
The Type 92 heavy bomber(Ki-20), commonly known as Type 92 super heavy, was the largest mono-plane in the world those days and was based on the German Junkers G-38 passenger plane, changed to a 4 engined bomber of which 6 were produced. When it was officialy adopted in 1933, during war, there was a plan, this plane to equip a special mission unit, called Tatsu or Chuchinoe Chutai (help is needed from Japanese speakers for the correct reading of the Kanji), so, at the 7 Rentai based at Hamamatsu, personnel was trained e.t.c. Afterwards, the plan was changed and in the Autumn of 1938, four planes were assigned to the second Chutai of the seventh Sentai and while major practice was undertaken until 1940, the plane by then was already obsolete.
It was painted Grey Green overall.
Page 98,
photo caption:
Same plane as illustrated, type 92 heavy bomber first plane. Wing span: 44m, Full Length: 23m, Fully Equiped Weight: 25t. Although, the huge body was it's best part, lack of engine power, bad condition, low performance together with long needed time for testing and manufacturing, made this plane obsolete.
Design 1: Ki-20 7 Rentai, from 1933 until about 1935 Shizuoka prefecture/ Hamamatsu.
Developed using the German Jungers G-38 as a model, the type 92 heavy bomber was Army's first four engined heavy bomber, but lack of performance repeated in test flight, finished it. Being temporarily deployed to the 7 Rentai, ofcourse it didn't carry any tail marking e.t.c. Overall Grey Green and since it was the first design, it carries the number "1" (in red or black) behind the Hinomaru of the fuselage. Although 6 planes were produced, only this first plane carried the number in the fuselage.
From Military Aircraft No.44, 1999/5, page 85:
(there is a photo of the G.38 and a photo of the first Ki-20)
Caption of the G.38 photo:
Kept as top secret, the Mitsubishi Heavy industries produced a licenced super heavy bomber based on the G.38. Ofcourse, Junkers had the technical leadership...
Caption of the Ki-20 photo:
A Mitsubishi Ki-20 with Hinomaru.(!?!?!?!) Junkers made a bomber version of the G.38, named K51, for the Japanese and 7 planes were produced of this type.
Much more are included in the "Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941" Putnam by Mikesh & Abe, page 182.
Hope you find the above interesting. Any corrections to the translation and additions to the history of this plane are highly wellcomed. Maybe one day we will see a kit in 1/48 and then wonder where to put it.....
 
Re: Ki-20
 
Posted By: JP4 <JAP102984@aol.com>
Date: Monday, 25 November 2002, at 10:18 p.m.
 
In Response To: Ki-20 (Dominique Jadoul)
 
Is the Junkers G38 the same as the Junkers K-51? My references maintain that the Mitsubishi Army Type 92 Heavy Bomber Ki-20 was a license built version of the Junkers K-51. If your reference aircraft is wrong (i.e., the G38), then perhaps checking into the K-51 might get you some information about license-built varieties, which in this case, would include the Ki-20.
 
It's kind of thin, but it might help.
 
Re: Ki-20
 
Posted By: Dominique Jadoul
Date: Wednesday, 27 November 2002, at 2:20 p.m.
 
In Response To: Re: Ki-20 (JP4)
 
As far as I know, the K-51 was the military/export designation of the Junkers G38.
 
Ki-20 detail
 
Posted By: Charles Metz <c-metz@uchicago.edu>
Date: Monday, 25 November 2002, at 2:56 p.m.
 
In Response To: Ki-20 (Dominique Jadoul)
 
The only books containing Ki-20 detail that I could find in my library are:
 
Nohara: 'Imperial Japanese Army Warplane [sic]' (Illustrated Warplane History series, No. 6; Green Arrow [Japan], 1997; in Japanese; 212 pages; US$35) -- cockpit detail (p. 43), ), cutaway drawing (p. 43), engine (p. 43), marking profile (p. 0a)
 
and:
 
Nohara: 'The Xplanes of Imperial Japanese Army & Navy 1924-45' (Illustrated Warplane History series, No. 8; Green Arrow [Japan], 2000; in Japanese; 309 pages; US$37) -- multi-view drawings (p. 29).
 
Re: Ki-20 detail
 
Posted By: Dominique Jadoul
Date: Wednesday, 27 November 2002, at 2:18 p.m.
 
In Response To: Ki-20 detail (Charles Metz)
 
Thanks for this info. Would you by any chance have the ISBN of those two books handy? It might help me locate them.
 
A source for those books
 
Posted By: Charles Metz <c-metz@uchicago.edu>
Date: Wednesday, 27 November 2002, at 4:44 p.m.
 
In Response To: Re: Ki-20 detail (Dominique Jadoul)
 
I don't have the ISBNs handy. However, both books can be ordered from Hobbylink Japan, who list them at:
 
http://www.hlj.com/cgi-local/hljpage.cgi?GRA40
 
and:
 
http://www.hlj.com/cgi-local/hljpage.cgi?GRA47
 
respectively.
 
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