The aircraft served in
China from June 1940, replacing the
Kawasaki Ki-32, and were widely used in the
Philippines,
Malaya,
Burma,
New Guinea, the
Solomon Islands and the
Dutch East Indies, where the Ki-48 Ia and Ib models, slow and badly armed, were supplemented by the marginally improved Ki-48 IIa and IIc, which were maintained in service along with the older types until the end of the war. All models continued in service until the
Battle of Okinawa during April 1945, when many were converted into
kamikaze aircraft (Ki-48-II KAI
Tai-Atari) armed with an 800 kg (1,760 lb) bomb. Some aircraft were modified to act as testbeds; one carried the
Kawasaki Ki-148 guided missile intended for use on the
Kawasaki Ki-102 in late 1944, and one was modified to test a Ne-0 pulsejet engine in late 1944 to early 1945. The fact that all models continued in service until 1945 reflects that many Ki-48s survived more often than not. This was due to the use of small ship formations (three to ten aircraft) escorted by large numbers of fighters (25–75), typically
Nakajima Ki-43s. Although not as fast as more modern fighters, after 1942, the aircraft was still fast enough to enable it to often avoid interception unless it ran into a standing patrol of fighters. The 90th Air Regiment of the
5th Air Army (based in Hopei, north China) equipped with Ki-48s was the only Japanese air unit in China proper to engage the Soviets, although others were advanced in preparation. It flew 20 sorties against the Soviets during 14 August 1945.
Ki-48 Special Attack Unit The
British Pacific Fleet departed from
Ceylon on 16 January 1945 en route to
Australia and struck Japanese-held oil wells and refineries at
Palembang,
Sumatra on 24–29 January 1945 in
Operation Meridian. On 29 January, seven Kawasaki Ki-48 of the Army's
Shichisi Mitate Tokubetsu Kōgeki Tai counter-attacked the Allied fleet at low level as the British aircraft were returning from Palembang. The British radar picture was confused by the presence of over 100 friendly aircraft, and the first two or three
Supermarine Seafire CAP interceptions did not occur until just before the Ki-48 formation entered the air defence zone. The last pair of Seafires chased the five remaining Ki-48s inside the screen and, with the support of returning
Vought F4U Corsairs and
Grumman F6F Hellcats which had just been scrambled, shot down all of them, amongst intense AA fire. One Seafire was slightly damaged and one Hellcat was written off due to friendly fire, but the only ship to be damaged was the carrier , hit by heavy AA shells. Such success, minor by Pacific fighting standards at the time, gave the British Pacific Fleet useful expertise and confidence in its ability to deal with
kamikaze attacks. ==Variants==