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The Tony first flew Dec. 1941 and entered production shortly afterwards, with 2,646 of the series I being built. Armament was steadily increased and improved models remained in production until Jan. 1945. The Ki-61-II had a more powerful engine, larger wing, and redesigned cockpit. Production difficulties, however, limited that design to eight aircraft (Due to unreliability of the Ha-140 engine, but later resurrected as the Ki-100), followed by a more extensive redesign - Ki-61-II KAI - of which only ninety-nine were completed because U.S. air attacks destroyed the engine plant (374 built, 275 without engines, which were later used in the Ki-100 after retrofit for a radial engine). When its engine functioned properly, the Ki-61-II KAI was the only Army Fighter that could fight at the operating altitudes of the B-29 Superfortress bombers. Resembling Western high-performance fighters, the Tony was a long-wing aircraft with an in-line engine. It was the first Japanese fighter with factory installed armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, marking a move away from lightweight fighters. The first operational Japanese fighter with an inline engine, the Ki-61 Hien (Swallow) was one of the most widely flown fighters of the Army Air Force. It was initially mistaken for the Messerschmitt Bf 109 when first seen by Allied airmen in the late summer of 1942. It saw action over New Guinea, Formosa, and Okinawa, and was used in the defense of the Japanese homeland.
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