7 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Nakajima Ki-43-IIa: The original uploader was Vuvar1 at English Wikipedia ., 25 October 2005 (original upload date)· Public domain
- 2. Ki-43 Hayabuya Kagoshima Japan: Z3144228· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 3. Nakajima Ki-43 Airplane: Stumanusa· CC BY 3.0
- 4. Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa "Peregrine Falcon": San Diego Air & Space Museum· Public domain
- 5. Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa Peregrine Falcon: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive· Public domain
- 6. Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive· Public domain
- 7. Nakajima Ki-43 ROCAF: Unknown author Unknown author· Public domain
what is it?
The Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (隼, Peregrine falcon), formal Japanese designation Army Type 1 Fighter (一式戦闘機, Ichi-shiki sentōki) is a single-engine land-based tactical fighter designed and produced by the Japanese manufacturer Nakajima Aircraft Company. The Allied reporting name was "Oscar", but it was often called the "Army Zero" by American pilots because it bore a certain resemblance to the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, the Imperial Japanese Navy's counterpart to the Ki-43. It was the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service's (IJAAS) first all-metal enclosed cockpit aircraft with retractable landing gear.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 10.8 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 87 years ago, in 1939.
- Top speed is 4.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 10.8 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
- Range of 1,760 km: 10× Amsterdam to Brussels.
- Can fly 1.3× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1939-01
- introduced
- 1941
- retired
- 1945
- status
- retired
- number built
- 5,919
- role
- fighter aircraft
- origin
- Empire of Japan
- makers
- Nakajima
- engines
- 1× Nakajima Ha-115 / Nakajima Sakae
- length
- 8.9 m
- wingspan
- 10.8 m
- height
- 3.3 m
- max take-off weight
- 2,925 kg
- top speed
- 530 km/h
- cruise speed
- 440 km/h
- range
- 1,760 km
- ceiling
- 11,200 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q700703, Wikipedia: Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.