The Kawanishi E13K, company designation AM-19, was a Japanese 1930s three-seat reconnaissance floatplane.

Design and development

In 1937 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 ...

requested the

Kawanishi Aircraft Company was a Japanese aircraft manufacturer during World War II. History The company was founded as Kawanishi Engineering Works in 1920 in Hyōgo Prefecture as an outgrowth of the Kawanishi conglomerate, which had been funding the Nakajima Aircraft Co ...

and Aichi to design a replacement for the Navy's E7K seaplanes. Kawanishi's design, given the short designation E13K and long designation Kawanishi Navy 12-Shi Three-seat Reconnaissance Seaplane, was an all-metal single-float seaplane armed with one

Type 92 machine gun The was developed for aerial use for the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1932. The Type 92 is a light machine gun and not to be confused with the similarly named Type 92 heavy machine gun. Description It was the standard hand-held machine gun in mul ...

and either one bomb under the fuselage or 4 bombs under the wings. The first of two E13K prototypes flew on 28 September 1938. In October 1938, the aircraft was transferred to the fleet base for testing, and even though the E13K outperformed the

Aichi E13A The Aichi E13A ( Allied reporting name: "Jake") was a long-range reconnaissance seaplane used by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) from 1941 to 1945. Numerically the most important floatplane of the IJN, it could carry a crew of three and a bomblo ...

except in maximum speed, it was difficult to operate, so the Navy chose the E13A to be the replacement for the E7K.

Operators

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Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service The was the Naval aviation, air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War. The Japanese military acquired their first air ...

Design and development

Operators

Specifications

See also

References

Further reading