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Yokosuka/Kawanishi K5Y1 ( 九三式中間練習機)
The Yokosuka/Kawanishi K5Y1 is a Japanese trainer aircraft developed in 1933 on the basis of the prototype Navy Type 91 Intermediate Trainer. The original name of the aircraft was Type 93 Intermediate Training Aircraft and was produced from 1933 to 1945, 5,770 of all versions were produced (the other versions are K5Y2 and K5Y3). The plane was nicknamed “赤とんぼ” - Akatombo (Red Dragonfly) because it was also a very maneuverable plane, and was most often painted orange and red (like all training aircraft in Japan).
History
At the beginning of the Japanese Shōwa era (1926-1989), the Japanese Navy used old carrier-based aircraft (for example, the Mitsubishi 2MR or Yokosuka E1Y) as training aircraft for future flight crews. Such a solution was effective only in the short term, because aviation technology was advancing quickly and old planes were less and less suitable for this purpose. Therefore, in 1930, work began on an intermediate training aircraft at the Naval Aviation Arsenal (Yokosuka). The plane was ready in 1931 and was designated Type 91 Intermediate Training Aircraft, but it turned out to be an unsuccessful design. Therefore, in November of the same year, the Naval Command ordered the improvement of the Type 91 aircraft in order to be able to put it into service. The Kawanishi Works, in cooperation with the Aerospace Engineering Factory, developed an aircraft based on the Type 91 aircraft until 1933. Then the production of the prototype began, which was ready in December 1933. Subsequently, the first prototype, along with the next four, was sent to the Navy for tests, which it passed and at the end of January 1934 the aircraft was taken over into service as the Type 93 Intermediate trainer or K5Y1. This aircraft was produced in all aviation plants related to the navy: Kawanishi (60), Watanabe (556), Mitsubishi (60), Hitachi (1393), First Naval Air Technical Arsenal (Yokosuka) (75), Nakajima (24), Nippon (2733) and Fuji (896) from 1933 to 1945. The K5Y1 aircraft was characterized by very good maneuverability (it could perform complex aerobatic feats), simplicity and reliability. The plane was very liked by pilots, also eagerly used on the civilian market. Some of the K5Y1 aircraft were delivered in 1944 to kamikaze units, where they were armed with bombs weighing 100 or 250 kg. One of the successes of the K5Y1 aircraft was the sinking of the destroyer USS Callaghan on 28 July 1945. K5Y1 aircraft were used outside Japan also in Indonesia to fight the Dutch. The only surviving K5Y1 aircraft is in the Indonesian Air Force Museum in Jakarta City.
Construction description
Yokosuka/Kawanishi is a training aircraft in a two-wing configuration with a fixed landing gear, with a skid at the rear. The crew consisted of two people sitting behind each other. The aircraft was powered by a Hitachi Amakaze 11 engine with a take-off power of 340 hp, which drove a two-bladed wooden propeller. The armament consisted of a fixed 7.7 mm Type 89 machine gun (later replaced by the Type 97) mounted in the nose and a 7.7 mm movable Type 92 machine gun mounted on the rear (not always mounted). The outboard armament is bombs with a maximum weight of 100 kg or 250 kg in kamikaze missions.
General characteristics
- Crew: 2
- Length: 8,05 m
- Wingspan: 10,99 m
- Height: 3,20 m
- Wing area: 27,7m2
- Empty weight: 1000 kg
- Gross weight: 1500 kg
- Powerplant: 1 × Hitachi Amakaze 11 ,air-cooled nine-cylinder radial engine with a take-off power of 250 kW (340 hp)
- Propellers: Two-bladed wooden propeller with a fixed angle of attack with a diameter of 2,750 mm
Performance
- Maximum speed: 214 km/h
- Cruising speed: 148 km/h
- Range: 670 km
- Maximum Range: 1 017 km
- Service ceiling: 5 700 m
- Climb Rate: 3,7 m/s
- Rate of climb: 13,5 min to 3000 m
Armament
- Guns:
- 1 x Type 89 Fixed Machine Gun 7.7mm in the nose ,or
- 1 x Type 97 Fixed Machine Gun 7.7mm in the nose ,
- 1 x A movable Type 92 7.7 mm machine gun in the co-pilot position
- Bombs
- 2 x 30 kg bombs (Under the wings)
- 10 x 10 kg bombs (Under the wings)
Special thanks
@Rowiek
Summary
The Yokosuka/Kawanishi K5Y1 is an interesting aircraft for Japan in War Thunder. It can be called the Japanese Po-2, only a little faster, but with a worse payload. This aircraft would be an interesting aircraft as an event because of its impact on the Japanese Navy. I encourage you to discuss in the comments and to share your own knowledge on this subject.
Finally, I apologize for the linguistic and logical errors because unfortunately English is not my main language and I had to use google translator.
Internet sources
九三式中間練習機 - Wikipedia
Yokosuka K5Y - Wikipedia
Yokosuka K5Y
Yokosuka K5Y Willow - trainer
Yokosuka K5Y Type 93 (Willow) Info
Pacific Wrecks - Yokosuka Type 93 Intermediate Training Aircraft / K5Y Willow - Technical Information
Yokosuka K5Y ‘Willow’ Type 93 Intermediate Trainer
Jokosuka K5Y1 [Willow] : Jokosuka
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia: K5Y “Willow”, Japanese Trainer Aircraft
Уголок неба ¦ Yokosuka K5Y
Book sources
- Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War page 446-448
- La Aviación Japonesa en la Segunda Guerra mundial (Japanese aviation in World War II) page 417-418
Aviones Japonese | PDF | Fuerzas aéreas del ejército de los Estados Unidos | Avión de combate
Thank you for reading the suggestion, see you in the next one. Good luck pilots
