Mitsubishi Ki-15
| Mitsubishi Ki-15 | |
|---|---|
 The marine version C5M |
|
| Type: | Reconnaissance plane |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
May 1936 |
| Commissioning: |
1937 |
| Production time: |
1937–1940 (?) |
| Number of pieces: |
489 |
The Mitsubishi Ki-15 (Allied code name: Babs ) was a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft of the 1930s that was used during World War II .
development
The Ki-15 was created due to a tender by the Japanese army on July 11, 1935 after a high-range high-speed reconnaissance aircraft. A maximum speed of 450 km / h at an altitude of 3000 m, a maximum mass of 2400 kg and an action radius of 450 km at a cruising speed of 400 km / h were required. Under the direction of Fumihiko Kono, Mitsubishi began design work and the construction of two prototypes, which were equipped with an HA-8 radial engine with 240 hp, at about the end of the year . Testing began in May 1936 and produced extremely positive results; so the target speed could be exceeded by 30 km / h and the maximum permissible flight mass could still be undercut. The only point of criticism was the poor visibility on the ground due to the voluminous engine. The Japanese army command therefore ordered the series production of the promising design under the designation Heerestyp 97 reconnaissance aircraft model 1 or Ki-15-I and in May 1937 the first copy was handed over to the armed forces.
The Ki-15-II followed as a performance-enhanced version . It was equipped with an HA-26-I with 900 PS (662 kW), with which it reached a top speed of 510 km / h. The Mitsubishi engine was smaller in diameter than the HA-8, which improved the poor forward visibility that was criticized in the first version. The Ki-15-II also went into series production and was used from 1939. The Ki-15-III was developed for the Japanese army and was the culmination of the development of the model. Equipped with a Mitsubishi 102 engine with 1,050 hp (772 kW), it reached a top speed of 530 km / h. Two prototypes were tested, but series production was not carried out in favor of the Ki-46 .
The Japanese Navy also showed interest in the Ki-15 and ordered 20 copies of the Ki-15-II in 1938, which were tailored to their needs, which included a slight modification of the cell and the installation of different radio and photo equipment. The name for this type was marine type 98 reconnaissance aircraft model 1 or C5M1 for short . This was followed by a C5M2 variant with Sakae-12 drive with 950 hp (699 kW), commissioned in 1940 . The engine was more powerful than that of the Ki-15-II used by the army, but the C5M2, which was produced in 30 copies, was slower due to its greater mass.
Production ended after 489 Ki-15s.
commitment
On the initiative of the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun , the second prototype of the Ki-15 was demilitarized from March 19 to 25, 1937 and converted for a long-distance record attempt. The trigger was the announcement by a French newspaper that had offered prize money to the crew who would be able to fly from Tokyo to Paris within 100 hours. The official occasion for the implementation was the participation in the coronation ceremony of the British heir to the throne George VI. announced, which is why London was also planned as the end point of the itinerary. The aircraft with the registration J-BAAI and the nickname Kamikaze (divine wind) took off on April 6, 1937 with the pilot Masaaki Iinuma and the on-board mechanic Kenji Tsukagoshi from the Tachikawa airfield for the first leg to Taipei . Via Hanoi , Vientiane , Calcutta , Karachi , Basra and Baghdad , it reached the European continent without incident, before reaching London-Croydon after 94:17:56 hrs via Athens , Rome and Paris . The pure flight time of the "Kamikaze" was 51:17:23 hours at an average speed of 162.8 km / h. For this flight, which was also recognized by the FAI , Iinuma and Tsukagoshi were awarded the Order of the French Legion of Honor . On May 12, 1937, the crew took aerial photos of the coronation taking place with the "Kamikaze". The return flight to Japan followed on the same route. In the following, the Ki-15 advanced to a popular private aircraft and the civilian version Karigane I was also used for advertising flights.
The military use of the Ki-15 began in 1937 in the Sino-Japanese War , where it was able to carry out reconnaissance flights almost undisturbed by enemy fighters thanks to its speed. Only the Soviet I-16 posed a certain threat. On December 10, 1941, C5M sighted the two British battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse in Malay waters , which were attacked and sunk by Japanese aircraft on the same day. In the further course of the war, the speed advantage of the Ki-15 decreased due to new and faster Allied fighters and their weak point, the lack of armor, a feature of many Japanese aircraft of this era, had an increasingly detrimental effect. The pattern was therefore withdrawn from the front in 1943. At the end of the war, the remaining aircraft were reactivated and used during kamikaze missions against enemy ships. China used some Ki-15s until after the war, but they were decommissioned by 1951.
Today no Ki-15 has survived.
construction
The Ki-15 was a self-supporting low-wing aircraft in all-metal - shell construction with a closed cockpit for one behind the other sedentary occupation, consisting of the pilot and the observer, who is also served the MG in the rear part. The three-part airfoil made of duralumin consisted of the middle section and the two outer surfaces, the tail unit in normal construction was also self-supporting. The Ki-15 had a rigid rear wheel landing gear , the main wheels of which were provided with streamlined fairings and wheel brakes.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data (Ki-15-I) |
|---|---|
| crew | 2 |
| span | 12.00 m |
| length | 8.49 m |
| height | 3.34 m |
| Wing area | 20.36 m² |
| Empty mass | 1,399 kg |
| Payload | 901 kg |
| Takeoff mass | maximum 2,300 kg |
| drive | an air-cooled nine-cylinder - radial engine |
| Type | Nakajima HA-8 |
| power | 640 hp (471 kW) |
| Top speed | 480 km / h at an altitude of 4,000 m |
| Service ceiling | 11,400 m |
| Range | 2,400 km |
| Armament | a posable 7.7 mm MG Type 89 |
Users
literature
- Peter All-Fernandez (ed.): Aircraft from A to Z . tape 3 . Bernard & Graefe, Koblenz 1989, ISBN 3-7637-5906-9 , pp. 132 .
- Kristoffer Daus: Mitsubishi Ki-15: London in 94 hours . In: Aviation Classics . No. 03/2019 . Motor Presse, Stuttgart, p. 52-57 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Wilfried Copenhagen , Jochen K. Beeck: The large aircraft type book . Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 978-3-613-02522-6 , p. 323 .