Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien" (Tony)

A quite interesting photo from a vintage, February 7, 1945, publication of a Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien" belonging to the 244th Sentai.

The ground crew is refuelling the Number 1 fuel tank (185l) on the starboard wing but also the Number 2 (165l) and probably 3 (200l) fuel tanks located under the cockpit and behind the cockpit respectively.

They are also maintaining the fuselage-mounted Ho-103, 12.7mm, machine guns but note the absence of the wing cannon. Perhaps a plane belonging to the "Shinten Seiku-tai" the air-to-air ramming squadron of the 244?

Note also that half of the spinner is yellow. It seems that this did not indicate the sub-unit within the 244 but combined with the fuselage stripes and the numbers on the wheel covers, which in this case is missing, was a way to recognise each individual aircraft.