| K 47 and A 48 | |
|---|---|
 Junkers A 48 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Fighter |
| National origin | Germany |
| Manufacturer | Junkers |
| Designer | |
| Primary user | China |
| Number built | 23 |
| History | |
| First flight | 15 September 1929 |
TheJunkers K 47 was a two-seaterfighter aircraft developed inSweden by the Swedish subsidiary of the German firm Junkers during the late 1920s, a civil development of which was designated theA 48.
Designed to meet a requirement of the Turkish government for a new fighter, the K 47 was astrut-braced, low-wingmonoplane of conventional design. Two opencockpits accommodated the pilot and tail-gunner, and theempennage was designed with twin vertical surfaces to maximise the rearward field of fire. The main units of the fixed,tailskid undercarriage shared part of the truss structure that braced the wings. The design was originally undertaken byKarl Plauth, but completed after his death byHermann Pohlmann. The aircraft had to be built at first in Sweden, because it was patently a military-type aircraft and therefore banned in Germany according to the terms of the Versailles Treaty.
By the time the K 47prototype was complete, Turkey had already lost interest in the type, but with theSoviet Union indicating interest, work continued. Eventually, however, the Soviet government only purchased two or three examples.
The only operational use of the type wasChina (Nanking government), which bought ten aircraft in 1931, and was presented one more in 1934 (the last one was named theT'ien C'hu No.1, after the factory, which had funded it).[1] With the flare-up of theShanghai Incident of 1932, theChinese Air Force dispatched various fighter-attack planes to the ShanghaiHongqiao Aerodrome and the HangzhouQiaosi Airbase, while theImperial Japanese Navy dispatched planes from aircraft carriersHōshō andKaga. A surprise attack by a 15-aircraft formation composed ofNakajima Type 3 fighters andMitsubishi Type 13 attack-bombers saw a Chinese Junkers K 47 with pilotShi Bangfan and his rear-seat gunner Shen Yanshi just managing to take off from Qiaosi as the Japanese raid commenced. Although gunner Shen's gun jammed, pilot Shi continued to dogfight the Japanese until he had to force-land his Junkers after he was shot and the engine damaged.[2]
Demonstrations were also carried out inRomania,Portugal, andLatvia without any resulting orders, although one aircraft may have been purchased byJapan. Three aircraft were used by theReichswehr clandestinetraining facility atLipetsk and a small number of the unarmed civil version were purchased by theDVS.
K 47s were also used in trials to investigatedive bombing, experiments that would be formative of Pohlmann's thinking in designing theJu 87. Indeed, the second Ju 87 prototype was fitted with a K 47 tail.
Data from[citation needed]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
容克斯K-47首战上海 - 1932年"1·28"事变爆发后，中国派出9架各型军机调往上海虹桥机场增援，并与当日与日本发生空战，但战斗双方都无损失. 2月26日集中在杭州附近乔司机场待命的我国25架战机突遭日军"中岛"3式战斗机和"中岛"13式攻击机组成的15机编队偷袭，第2队队长石邦藩、射击手沈延世驾驶P-7号容克斯K-47双座战斗机率先起飞应敌，淞沪之战以来最激烈的一场空战由此展开.
