Kokusai Ta-Go

Kokusai Ta-Go (Ki-128)
试作战斗机

History of the creation:

Imperial Japan in 1945, preparing for the allied invasion, one of the desperate option how to slow down and perhaps even stop the advance of enemy troops, should be suicidal strikes with the help of all resources.

A special place then they have sections of the air suicide. The armament of the suicide troops was very different from practice or have already discarded combat aircraft to modern, for these purposes specially developed aircraft as they were Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka or army Mitsubishi Ki-167 or the production easier Nakajima Ki 115 Tsurugi.

Special structures were often expensive to produce and the fact that the take-off of a special suicide aircraft already in the vast majority of meant the impossibility of return, e.g., the absence of chassis and triggered the detonator. There was the possibility of the second use of the machine and it doesn't matter whether the pilot finds a suitable target or not - the plane was always lost. This fact has led Rikugun Koku Hombu (command of the army air force) to force air kontruktéry to what may be the biggest savings of the material. We must remember that Japan at that time had almost broken industry, which also suffered from a lack of raw materials and energy.

These circumstances were behind the emergence of such economical suicide. It was small and unsightly in the model did not fly, which was proposed by a group of students of the army scientific research institute in Tachikawě. Listeners, who led the Taj (kpt.) Yoshiyuka Mizuyama, designed a wooden, angular, conditions the low wing plane, reminiscent of their shapes very economical ultralight. Drive ensure invert air-cooled four-cylinder engine Hatsukaze 11, the crew should be one of the hastily trained pilot, and the armament was formed by one stokilogramovou a cougar, or an appropriate charge of high explosives.

Production of the prototype took small factory Nipon Kokusai Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, the assembled the aircraft from parts, which made the students Rikugun Kokugijutsu Kenkyujo. The next production already take place in many small workshops, in which it was calculated with the too much skilled labour and build letounků should take place in all at least a little covered places - in tunnels, caves, under bridges, etc. Simple manipulation in such confined spaces should facilitate the wings, whose outer half can be folded up. Production should take place in the areas of Kansai and Kanto, the most important thing should be the defense of the cities of Osaka and Kobe.

The prototype aircraft was on 25. 6. 1945 still fly with the factory pilot, more years ago failed to take place and production is already nerozeběhla.

The japanese pilots had with this letounkem take off and attack the enemy soldiers, who would have been in sight of the airport, it fell off the problems with navigation and locating targets. Their only operating years should take place already after only seven hours of training!
Rikugun Koku Hombu had for this plane is reserved for the designation of Ki-128

sources:
L+K 7/1994, Aircraft 39 - 45, Václav Němeček
pt.shvoong.com
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/aww2/tago.html
author archive.

Připojuji jedinou fotografii, kterou mám

I got another photo of this letounku, comes from AirMagazine Well.36, str.52; Paris; February/march 2007..

Kamufláž z krabičky modelu fy Czech Master