Kawasaki Ki-78

The Kawasaki Ki-78, first called Ken III for research aircraft number three, was a small high-speed research aircraft meant to study laminar-flow wings with heavy wing loading and to try for the world absolute speed record. The Aeronautical Research Institute of the University of Tokyo began the programme in 1938, and Kawasaki built the aircraft with a streamlined fuselage, a thin all-metal wing with a sharp leading edge and a licence-built Daimler-Benz DB 601A engine boosted for short periods with methanol and water injection. The Imperial Japanese Army took the project over and ordered two prototypes in 1941. The first flew on 26 December 1942, but a study showed it needed extensive changes, so the programme ended after the 32nd flight on 11 January 1944 and the second aircraft was never finished.