The Kawanishi K6K was a prototype Japanese training aircraft built by 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 ...

in the late 1930s.

Design

The K6K was a 2-seat twin-float

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 ...

with a welded steel-tube fuselage, covered in

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

, light alloy and steel wing covered in fabric and monocoque floats built from light alloy. It was conceived in response to an

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 ...

requirement for an intermediate-level training seaplane. The first flight of the K6K occurred on 30 April 1938, but flight tests revealed poor alighting characteristics, so the K6K was not ordered into production.

Specifications (K6K)

References

{{Japanese Navy short aircraft designations K06K, Kawanishi K06K Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft