| E10K/Navy Type 94 Transport | |
|---|---|
| Role | Night reconnaissance/Transportflying boat Type of aircraft |
| National origin | Japan |
| Manufacturer | Kawanishi Aircraft Company |
| First flight | 10 September 1934 |
| Primary user | Imperial Japanese Navy |
| Number built | 1 |
TheKawanishi E10K, also known asKawanishi Type T,Kawanishi Navy Type 94 Transport Seaplane andKawanishi Navy Experimental 9-Shi Night Reconnaissance Seaplane, was a small Japaneseflying boat of the 1930s. It was a single-enginedbiplane intended to meet a requirement for a nightreconnaissance aircraft for theImperial Japanese Navy but was not selected for production, the single prototype being converted to a transport and operated as theNavy Type 94 Transport.
In 1934, the Imperial Japanese Navy 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 theAichi 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.[1]
Contracts were awarded to bothAichi andKawanishi to design and build prototypes to meet the requirement. Kawanishi's design, with the company designationKawanishi Type T was a single-enginedtractor configuration biplane of all-metal construction. Itssingle-bay wings, which folded backwards for storage on ship, were based on those of theKawanishi E7K reconnaissancefloatplane, while theNakajima Kotobukiradial engine 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.[2]
The Type T made its maiden flight on 10 September 1934.[2] 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 theE10A.[3]
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.[3]
Data from Japanese Aircraft 1910–1941[3]
General characteristics
Performance
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era