Tachikawa Ki-77

History

The interwar period saw aircraft manufacturers and pilots set and break many aerial records. Advances in technology and construction practices were key factors, coupled with the courage of pilots and pilots, to reach new heights. In 1937, a local Japanese newspaper teamed up with the Mitsubishi Ki-15 on a much-publicized long-haul voyage from the Japanese archipelago to England. Not to be outdone, the Asahi Shimbun, another local Japanese newspaper, commissioned a similar feat when sponsoring a dangerous flight from Japan to Europe.

The effort ultimately had multiple goalsto serve as a local advocacy tool, strengthen ties with Axis partners, and advance the development of long-range technology for use by future Imperial Japan Air Force (IJAAF) aircraft.

Researchers at the Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Tokyo - established in 1877 - with the assistance of engineers Tachikawa, laid the groundwork for the design of the aircraft. Designers at Tachikawa Hikoki KK then built the aircraft into a streamlined monoplane with a rounded fuselage, single tail, pressurized cabin and retractable landing gear. The group planned to make its first flight in late 1941, although fortunes changed, the Japanese Empire attacked U.S.

Navy Pacific Headquarters in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, throwing Japan into all-out war and overthrowing the United States and its allies. As resources and manpower were now fully diverted to Japan's war effort, this brought the promising long-distance enterprise back temporarily.

Savoia-Marchetti SM, Italy, July 1942. 75 Entered Japan from Italy via the Soviet Union and China to strengthen ties with Axis allies. This, in turn, prompted the Japanese to rekindle their interest in long-haul flights to the West - although they avoided Soviet airspace at all costs due to poor relations between the two regional powers.

Tachikawa completed the aircraft under the designation "Ki-77" and completed its maiden flight on November 18, 1942.

The flight exposed some flaws that led to the grounding of the first prototype for a while. During this hiatus, Tachikawa built another aircraft of the same specification, which became the second of two prototypes in the Ki-77 family.

On July 7, 1943, as the crew was selected and trained for future adventures, some major problems on the plane were resolved, and the flight officially took off from an airstrip in Singapore.

Consequently, Allied intelligence learned of the long flight via German communications and was immediately dispatched to meet the traveling Ki-77. It is believed that the Japanese flight was destined for a collision with the British, who sent their unprotected enemy aircraft somewhere over the Indian Ocean.

The Tachikawa plane was carrying eight crew members, including three officers.

Beginning in 1944, a second Ki-77 was used for record-breaking long-range testing, which was conducted unofficially in Japanese-controlled areas before the end of the war. By the time Japan surrendered in August 1945, the Ki-77 had survived Allied bombing, so it was taken over by the Americans and shipped to the United States for inspection in 1946, before being dismantled and scrapped.

Therefore, the Tachikawa Ki-77 did not have much publicity in aviation history.

Specification

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Production

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Performance

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