The Kayaba Ku-2 (''萱場 2型無尾翼滑空機'') was a glider built in Japan in 1940 to investigate the possibilities of
tailless aircraft.
It was developed as part of an
Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
contract that had been offered to designer
Hidemasa Kimura following the successful flights of his
HK-1 tailless glider over the previous years.
Developed with the help of the
Kayaba Industry
is a Japanese, Tokyo-based automotive company.
Among KYB's main products company are shock absorbers, air suspensions, power steering systems, hydraulic pumps, motors, cylinders, and valves. It is one of the world's largest shock absorber m ...
's chief designer
Shigeki Naito, the Ku-2 had a swept wing with two vertical fins at the end of the wings. The Ku-2 flew 262 test flights between October 1940 and May 1941 before being damaged beyond repair in a crash.
Specifications
References
*
日本飞翼的短暂研究
{{Japanese Army Glider Designation System
1940s military gliders
Tailless aircraft
1940s Japanese experimental aircraft
Kayaba aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1940