MITSUBISHI Ki-21 LIGHT BOMBER

[YAN]

Hi, can any one tell what type of bombs the MITSUBISHI Ki-21 LIGHT BOMBER could carry. was 12 x 130lb, 8 x 250lb or 4 x 500lb bombs, or maby a mixture of both.
thanks yan.

[Tim Smith]

The Ki-21 Sally was actually a medium (twin-engined) bomber.

But the Japanese themselves called it a heavy bomber, because by their standards it was heavy.

Light bombers, for the Japanese, were single-engined bomber types.

[YAN]

sorry Tim, I was going to use them in my wargames but Iam unsure on its pay load. I know the maximum bomb load in weight but not what type of bombs
yan

[tom!]

Hi.

The bomb bay loading plan from Maru Mechanic Issue 29 (07/1981):



The white bombs are the standard load, the blue bombs are optional for short ranges.

Yours

tom!

[YAN]

thanks Tom, I havent seen your excellent web site for a while, are you updating it.
Yan.

[tom!]

Hi.

I´m very busy at the moment so I can´t say when the relaunch started.

Especially the picture copyright regulations are very tricky here in Germany. Even a lawyer I contacted wasn´t totally sure what is possible and what is not.

Yours

tom!

[Cantankerous]

Hi, can any one tell what type of bombs the MITSUBISHI Ki-21 LIGHT BOMBER could carry. was 12 x 130lb, 8 x 250lb or 4 x 500lb bombs, or maby a mixture of both.
thanks yan.

The KI-21 had a maximum bombload of 2,205 lb (1,000 kg). If the Imperial Japanese Army classified the Ki-21 as a heavy bomber even though the KI-21's bombload was more consistent of that of medium bombers, what amount of bombs was used by the IJA to classify bomber aircraft as medium bombers?

[fontessa]

what amount of bombs was used by the IJA to classify bomber aircraft as medium bombers?

IJA had only 2 bomber categories - heavy and light. The boundary between them was roughly 500 kg.
Formal name of Ki-48 (Lily), with the payload of 500kg was Type.99 Twi-engine Light Bomber. Single engine light bomber was called simply "Light Bomber" such as Type.97 Light Bomber (Ki-30, Ann).

fontessa