Aircraft History
Built by Kawasaki in November 1943 (exact date unknown, no master data plate ever found) with "Otsu" armament of 2 x 12.7mm fuselage; 2 x 12.7mm wings. It was natural silver finished, with dark green "snake weave" camouflage sprayed on the upper surfaces and a white fin flash on the tail fin.

Wartime History
In December 1943 the first Ki-61s with the "Otsu" armament arrived in New Guinea. Ferried from Japan to New Guinea via Okinawa - Taiwan - Clark Field - Davao - Manado - Sorong - Babo Airfield - Wewak. Assigned to the 68th Sentai, this aircraft was likely based at Boram Airfield in the Wewak area, or possibly Hollandia.

Mission History
Force landed gently in a grassy plain south of Aitape, with the landing gear retracted. It is unknown why this plane force landed, possibly out of fuel. No damage was present on the wreck. The only real damage to the landing was a broken engine reduction gear casting.

Wreckage
Because of its remote location, this wreck was rarely visited and was not vandalized or damaged. Undisturbed until the 1970's, tracer, armor piercing, and high explosive rounds were still belted in its machine guns.

When the book Pacific Aircraft Wrecks was published, it stated:
"caught near Wewak by an RAAF Kittyhawk and chased inland at low level until it ran out of fuel and force-landed near Nuka." The book reported its location as Nuka (Nuku), but in fact the wreck was near Yiliwe. Also, there is no evidence of a combat with RAAF P-40. Author Charles Darby noted on the tail marking the was white [ figure of a fin-flash shaped like a solid "V" pointed down toward L/E of horizontal stabilizer]."

Richard Dunn adds:
"My take on the RAAF Kittyhawk in combat near Wewak is that it did not happen. First, it didn't happen before Nov 43 because there were no RAAF Kittyhawk Squadrons within range of Wewak. The only fighters active over Wewak were P-38s from August 43 soon joined by P-47s and later by US P-40s. No P-39s and no RAAF Kittyhawks were involved in the late 43 to March 44 missions against Wewak. RAAF No. 78 Wing (75, 78 and 80 Squadrons) moved within theoretical range of Wewak in Jan 44 (Nadzab area) but its missions from there and later from New Britain simply did not include sweeps or escort missions to Wewak nor is there any record of air combat in these squadrons before Hollandia fell (Apr 44) and Wewak was totally isolated."

Richard Leahy recalls visiting the wreck:
"I have a long standing friend named Kevin Trueman. He and myself walked into [this] Ki-61 Tony back in 1972 at a place called Yiliwe, south of Aitape. This is the correct location, rather than Nuku, the place usually stated where the wreck was located. When I visited the plane, most of it was still there, only the gun sight was missing, taken by someone. Also, of interest the aircraft had four 13mm [12.7mm] machine guns as its armament. The photos in Darby's book [Pacific Aircraft Wrecks] must have been taken sometime earlier, probably by Roy Worcester."

Partial Recovery
Beginning in 1975, Roy Worcester begin recovering parts back to Roy Worcester Historical Centre in Wewak. The tail section of this wreck was removed, and attached to Ki-61 Tony 379. Later, the rest of the wreck was disassembled into three pieces by Justin Hoisington who hoped to export it. By the 1980s, all the guns and instruments were removed and there was no tail unit.

Bruce Hoy adds:
"The Worcester Tony [Ki-61 379] was bought by Justin Hoisington in Chino, California. Hoisington is reported to also been the individual who disassembled Ki-61 Tony 640, and was only able to retrieve the tail section. While in the United States in 1985, I saw in Hoisington's hangar, the Worcester Tony, and two tail units, one of which I am sure was off the Nuku Tony [Ki-61 640]."

RAAF Recovery & PNG Museum
The PNG Museum, under the direction of curator Bruce Hoy took control of the wreck. In 1984, with the help of a RAAF helicopter, the pieces were flown to Wewak and shipped to Port Moresby for display at the museum.

The RAAF recovered the fuselage first, which arrived at the PNG Museum on November 23, 1984, and was displayed in a dolly built by Bruce Hoy. The wings and engine were delivered later, and were stored separate from the fuselage. It was displayed at the museum for twenty years: 1984 - 2004.

On July 29, 2004 this aircraft was packed into a container bound for Australia by Robert Greinert / HARS. The airplane remained property of the PNG Museum, and was exported under the agreement that it would be restored to static condition, and returned to the PNG Museum, along with P-38F 42-12647. According to Greinert: "as part of the Minister for Culture and Tourism's plan to undertake a restoration program for the museum."

Restoration
Currently under restoration at Precision Aerospace / Pacific Fighters Museum. Sources indicate that the aircraft might be copied to build three flyable replicas, that would go to the restorers and possibly for sale.

Mick Grinter adds:
"It looks to be in worse shape than i imagined, we are going to repaint it in it's original colours before disassembly, for an official photo shoot and hand over. We are now looking at building a few of them as there is a museum in Japan that is showing interest in a Ki-61. Fortunately I got onto an old pilot working on a Zero in Japan who had a set of wheels and tyres. I have no idea where we might get an instrument panel, a drawing or tracing would do,the cockpit has been striped out. It is a little cockpit but well set out."

References
Pacific Aircraft Wrecks page 3, 68
"The best preserved Japanese Army aircraft found in the South West Pacific was this Kawasaki Ki-61 Tony, 640, from a unknown sentai whose unit marking included a white fin flash. The aircraft is said to have been caught near Wewak by an RAAF Kittyhawk and chased inland at low level until it ran out of fuel and force-landed near Nuku. The Japanese pilot, probably very inexperienced, did not dare turn back toward his base as the Kittyhawk would then have been able to catch him."

Thanks to Bruce Hoy, Richard Leahy, Mick Grinter and Robert Greinert, Gerald Yagen and Richard Dunn for assistance with this profile. Thanks to Jim Long for manufacture data.

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Ki-61

Photo Archive

Former Location
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PNG Museum
Export
2004

Oil Tank Dataplate

Tail Gear Strut
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Yegan Fighter Factory Ki-61 Profile