Ki-61 History by Watanabe

[Mustang51]

I am trying to obtain a history of the Ki-61 written by Watanabe. I have no further details than that as its complete title seems not to have been posted on any forum or chat room. I believe that ti was part of a series but from which publisher I have no idea. I am unsure if it was even published in an English translation. All help gratefully accepted.

[David_Aiken]

WHICH "Watanabe"? There are several with that name. Any idea of the date, size, and what it contains (mainly photos, text or maybe artwork)?

[Mustang51]

Welcome to my quandry! From what I can gather it is history text, photographs and perhaps coloured side views. I have seen the name Watanabe on many colour profiles and from the description of some of the photographs in the book on a discussion thread the history/text would appear to be very detailed. Have no details of the publisher. Wish I could help further but that's all I have.

[Jim Oxley]

The only books that I'm aware of on the Ki-61 Hien are by:

a) Rene Francillon, which is a Profile Publication No.118 titled Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien

b) Richard Bueschel, Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien in Japanese Army Air Force Service, by Schiffer Publishing; and

c) the Kawasaki Ki-61 (Tony) put out by the editors Of Koku-Fun, Japanese Aviation Magazine, and published by Paul Gaudette

[David_Aiken]

Ahhh, as this is not in English...yet the ILLUSTRATIONS are by "Watanabe"...and now to find the Japanese author!

The artist "Watanabe" does work for many authors.
Let us travel to the FUKU website...and ask there!

http://www.plays.jp/bbs/zero22/index.html

[John Beaman]

Mustang51 and David:

Way back in the "dark ages", ca mid-1970s, there was a publication that was done by him on the Ki-61. It was about 50 pages, 8 1/2 x 14 inches (what we call "legal size") and the hard covers were a silver color. It was all in Japanese, contained some of the "usual" photos, and some drawings. These were in 1/48 and the color profiles were fold-outs about 1/24. A slick publication but contained some errors.

John

BTW, isn't "Mustang51" redundant?