|
|
The Mitsubishi Ki-69 was to have been an escort fighter based on the Mitsubishi Ki-67 Hiryu. The idea of produced a fighter version of the Ki-67 dated back at least to February 1941, when the Ki-67 and Ki-69 designations were both first issued. The Ki-69 would have been armed with a heavy weapons pod mounted below the bomb bay, and was to have been used to escort the standard Ki-67 to its targets.
While the Ki-69 was under development two similar aircraft actually reached the prototype stage. The Nakajima Ki-58 was based on the Nakajima Ki-49 Donryu heavy bomber, and the Kawasaki Ki-81 was based on the Kawasaki Ki-48 Sokei. Neither of these designs was particularly successful. The same idea occurred in the United States, resulting in the B-40 and B-41 escort fighters, which were produced from the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator. Again, neither of these designs were a great success.
Work on the Ki-69 continued through 1941 and the design work was almost completed, before in 1942 the project was officially cancelled.