Tags: Aircraft.
The Mitsubishi Ki-51 (Army designation Type 99 Assault Plane. Allied nickname Sonia) was a light bomber/dive bomber in service with the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. It first flew in mid-1939. Initially deployed against Chinese forces it proved to be too slow to hold up against the fighter aircraft of the other Allied powers. However it performed a useful ground-attack role in the China-Burma-India theater notably from airfields too rough for many other aircraft.