BILL PIPPIN COLLECTION
No. 5390. Nakajima Ki-84-I-Ko Hayate "Frank" ("FE-302") US Army Air Forces
Photographs from APS No. 4377 & 4385, and H.J. Nowarra

Nakajima Ki-84-I-Ko Hayate

The Hayate (Gale) fighter was the Imperial Japanese AAF Type 4 Fighter.

This particular aircraft was one of two (s/n 2366 and 3060) captured at Utsunomiya, Japan, near the end of the war. They were shipped on board USS Barnes (CVE-20) from Yokosuka to the US on November 3, 1945. On December 7, 1945 they were handed to the USAAF, the Office of Air Force Intelligence assigned the Foreign Evaluation numbers "FE-301" and "FE-302", the latter is shown here.

"FE-302" flew for the first time in the US from Middletown Air Depot, Pennsylvania, USA, on March 16, 1946. Delivered to Patterson Field, Ohio, USA, on May 20, 1946, only seven days later it was transferred to the adjacent Wright Field. It was flown to the foreign aircraft storage area at Orchard Place Airport, Park Ridge, Illinois, USA on July 3, 1946 for storage. The Air Force turned over all assets at Park Ridge to the National Air Museum in 1949, "FE-302" was restored to flying condition by 1963, and returned to Japan in 1973.

Created May 31, 2006