The Kawanishi E10K, also known as Kawanishi Type T, Kawanishi Navy Type 94 Transport Seaplane and Kawanishi Navy Experimental 9-Shi Night Reconnaissance Seaplane, was a small

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

of the 1930s. It was a single-engined

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

intended to meet a requirement for a night

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

aircraft for the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

, but was not selected for production, the single prototype being converted to a transport and operated as the Navy Type 94 Transport.

Design and development

In 1934, the

issued a specification for a night reconnaissance aircraft, intended to shadow enemy ships at night, allowing submarines to be directed to their targets, and in a surface action, to spot for the guns of the fleet. This concept had been tested with the Aichi Experimental 6-Shi Night Reconnaissance Flying boat, which had proved unsuitable for service use. The aircraft was required to have good endurance and slow speed stability to help its crews in flying long missions at night, while it also needed to be suitable for catapulting from warships.Mikesh and Abe 1990, p. 138. Contracts were awarded to both

Aichi is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectu ...

and Kawanishi to design and build prototypes to meet the requirement. Kawanishi's design, with the company designation Kawanishi Type T was a single-engined

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher c ...

of all-metal construction. Its

single-bay A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

wings, which folded backwards for storage on ship, were based on those of the

Kawanishi E7K The Kawanishi E7K was a Japanese three-seat reconnaissance seaplane mainly in use during the 1930s. It was allocated the reporting name Alf by the Allies of World War II. Design and development In 1932 the Imperial Japanese Navy requested the K ...

reconnaissance

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

, while the

Nakajima Kotobuki The Nakajima Ha1 Kotobuki (寿, "Longevity") was an aero-engine developed by Nakajima. It was a radial piston developed under licence from the Bristol Jupiter. Design and development In 1917, Chikuhei Nakajima set up the "Airplane Institute" a ...

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...

was mounted forward of the top wing. The stressed-skin hull held a crew of three, with pilot and co-pilot sitting in an enclosed cockpit, while the gunner/observer sat in the nose, armed with a single flexibly mounted machine gun.Mikesh and Abe 1990, pp. 138–139.

Operational history

The Type T made its maiden flight on 10 September 1934. Testing proved unsuccessful, with water handling problems and poor stability in the air, and the Navy considered it unsuitable for the night reconnaissance role, instead ordering the competing Aichi design into production as the E10A. Kawanishi converted the Type T to a utility transport, fitting it with a retractable beaching gear, and as such it entered service with the Navy as the Navy Type 94 Transport, but no production followed.

Specifications (Type 94 Transport)

Notes

* In the Japanese Navy designation system, specifications were given a ''Shi'' number based on the year of the Emperor's reign it was issued. In this case 9-''Shi'' stood for 1934, the 9th year of the

Shōwa era The was the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa ( Hirohito) from December 25, 1926, until his death on January 7, 1989. It was preceded by the Taishō era. The pre-1945 and post-war Shōwa periods are almos ...

.Mikesh and Abe 1990, pp. 2, 286.

References

* Mikesh, Robert and Shorzoe Abe. ''Japanese Aircraft 1910–1941''. London: Putnam, 1990. . {{Japanese Navy short aircraft designations E10K, Kawanishi Flying boats E10K Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1934

Design and development

Operational history

Specifications (Type 94 Transport)

See also

Notes

References