The Nakajima Ki-87 was designed to meet a 1942 specification for a heavily-armed high-altitude fighter. However, development problems (particularly with the unusual landing gear retraction mechanism and with the aircraft's turbosuperchargers) resulted in only one prototype being completed by February 1945. Flight tests in April 1945 showed that Ki-87 could have been a better performer than the Ki-84, though an even more improved version was on the drawing boards when the war ended.

Nakajima Ki.87

Type:           Army Experimental Hi-altitude Fighter
Service: 	Japanese Army Air Force (JAAF)
Crew:           Pilot
Armament:       two 20 mm Ho-5 cannon in nose
		two 30 mm Ho-105 cannon in wings
		one 551 lb (250 kg) bomb externally
Reference: 	Francillon: 240, Mondey: n/a

Specifications:
        Length:         38' 9.5" (11.82 m)
        Height:         14' 9.25" (4.503 m)
        Wingspan:       44' 0" (13.423 m)
        Wing area:      279.860 sq. ft (26 sq. m)
        Empty Weight:   9672 lbs (4387 kg)
        Loaded Weight:  12416 lbs (5632 kg)
        Max Weight:     13488 lbs (6100 kg)

Propulsion:
        No. of Engines: 1
        Powerplant:     Nakajima Ha-44 Type 11 18-cylinder radial
        Horsepower:     2400 hp

Performance:
        Endurance: 	2 hours
        Cruise Speed:   n/a 
        Max Speed:      439 mph (706 km/h) at 36,090 ft (11,000 m)
        Climb to/in:    32,810 ft (10,000 m) in 14 min 12 sec
        Ceiling:        34,450 ft (12,855 m)

Production:		one Ki-87 prototype was completed

Additional information on this aircraft can be found at Wikipedia HERE.


For a very nice scale color drawing of this aircraft, see here.

(go to Nakajima page) 

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