Kawasaki Ki-45

Ki-45 "Toryu"
Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu (Allied code name "Nick")
General information
Type	Heavy fighter Interceptor Night fighter Escort fighter Fighter-bomber/Strike fighter
Manufacturer	Kawasaki Kōkūki Kōgyō K.K.
Designer	Takeo Doi
Primary users	Imperial Japanese Army Air Service People's Liberation Army Air Force
Number built	1,701[1]
History
Introduction date	October 1941
First flight	January 1939
Retired	1945
Developed into	Kawasaki Ki-96

The Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu (屠龍, "Dragonslayer") is a two-seat, twin-engine heavy fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. The army gave it the designation "Type 2 Two-Seat Fighter" (二式複座戦闘機, Ni-shiki fukuza sentōki); the Allied reporting name was "Nick". Originally serving as a long-range escort-fighter, the design — as with most heavy fighters of the period — fell prey to smaller, lighter, more agile single-engine fighters. As such, the Ki-45 instead served as a day and nighttime interceptor and strike fighter.