ki-45 otsu armament

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by major.kudo

I forgot to tell.
Ki-45Kai has each one hardpoint under the main wings.
These could suspend propellant tank, or the cluster bomb called "TA munition" could be loaded.

The hard points could also be used to carry conventional (up to 250 kg each) bombs.

All but the night fighter version of the Otsu, and late versions of the Tei, also carried flexible, rear-firing 7.9 mm Type 98 machine gun.

Some later factory-built Night Fighter versions (Hei according to Major.Kudo's diagram, possibly described as late Otsu in other books) didn't have nose guns because it was intended that radar be mounted there. But only a few were equipped with it.

There were a number of field mods that aren't specifically described in the Francillon book, so I guess that the Toryu could carry just about any suitable gun in the IJAF arsenal.

There is also confusion between what counts as the "Otsu" vs. "Hei" versions. Older Western sources sometimes mistake Otsu for Hei or Tei versions, or substitute a Latin letter for the appropriate Japanese character when indicating production block. I'd trust the Bunrindo book over Francillon.

a = ko
b = otsu
c = hei
d = tei
improved = kai