In 1942, IJA saw a need for an aircraft that had as his primary objective, the interception in aerial assaults to defend hangars, installations and otherassets considered important for the enemy. The design specifications were drafted by the IJA, and kawasaky presented what they felt was the answer: The KI-88.
Prior the drafting of his specifications, the army had indicated a number of ideas to the new airplane:
It had to have a heavy armament, to make sure that it would be capable of inflict heavy damage, specially in bombers ( his primary objective)
Also had to have a good handling, to make sure that the new pilots would learn easily how handle it.
To this end, Tsuchii Takeo, designer of Kawasaki, began work in what would become the Ki-88.Takeo selected a 37 mm cannon (Ho-203) and two 20 mm autocannons (Ho-5), fitted in the nose of the plane. given the size of the Ho-203, of almost 1.50 m, Takeo decided to place the engine (an Kawasaki Ha-140, liquid cooled, supercharged, with 1,500 Hp) behind the cockpit, conecting the three-bladed propeller using a extension to the engine. this also helps to impruve the accuracy of the aircraft, and enhance the speed.
In June of 1943, Takeo finalised his design for the Ki-88. The Ki-88 had a deep fuselage to accommodate the Ha-140 engine that was situated below and to the rear of the cockpit. The air scoop for the Ha-140's radiator was mounted on the bottom of the fuselage, just forward of the wing roots. The radiator itself was positioned back from the scoop on the bottom interior of the fuselage, almost directly underneath the pllot's seat. Jutting out on the left side of the fuselage, iust above the trailing edge of the wing, was the scoop to provide air to the turbo- or super-charger of the Ha-140' The landing gear was conventional and the main gear retracted into the wings, while the tail wheel was fixed.
A fuel tank was provided in each wing, mounted behind the wheel wells' On either side and to the bottom of the Ho-203 cannon were the Ho-5 cannons. With the final design complete, work began on a full scale mock-up of the Ki-88 and this was completed sometime in 1943' In addition, work had already begun on construction of the fuselage and wings for a prototype and it was expected that by October 1943 the Ki-88 would be nearing completion. The IJA, however, had other plans for the Ki-88. After inspecting the mock-up and in reviewing the projected performance data of the plane, it was seen that it offered no real advantage over other designs then in operational use, notably the Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien. Thus, Kawasaki was ordered to terminate all work on the Ki-88.
Dimensions:
Span: 12,37 m
Leght: 10.18 m
Height: 4.14 m
Wing area: 27.49 m2
Weight: 3,899 kg (fully loaded)
Performance:
Max speed: 600 km/h
Range: 1,198 Km
Climb: 6' 30'' to 5,000 m
Ceilling: 11,000 m
