Nakajima Ki-201

Nakajima Aircraft Company

Industry	Aerospace, Defense
Founded	January 1, 1917 (1917-01-01)
Founder	Chikuhei Nakajima
Headquarters	Tokyo , Japan
Products	Aircraft, including Nakajima Ki-201 Karyū (concept)

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The Nakajima Ki-201, known as Karyū (火龍, meaning Fire Dragon), was a Japanese jet-powered fighter and attack aircraft concept conceived in the closing phase of World War II. However, this design never progressed to actual construction.

Development

Unlike the unrelated and considerably smaller Nakajima Kikka, which was developed due to the Navy's interest in producing a counterpart to the German Messerschmitt Me 262, the Karyū bore a closer resemblance to that German jet, albeit being more than 8% larger. The design was spearheaded by Iwao Shibuya and drew heavily on the Me 262's configuration.

The Imperial Japanese Army commissioned the Ki-201 program towards the end of 1944, specifying performance targets including a maximum speed between 800–1,000 km/h (500–620 mph), an operational ceiling of 12,000 m (39,000 ft), and a range spanning 800–1,000 km (500–620 mi). Nakajima undertook the development throughout 1945, completing preliminary blueprints by June of that year.

Nakajima projected that the initial prototype of the Karyū would be finished by December 1945, followed by an initial batch of eighteen pre-production units by March 1946. Nonetheless, construction on the first airframe had yet to commence when Japan capitulated.

External links

• Nakajima Ki-201 Karyu Overview – j-aircraft.org