KAWASAKI ARMY TYPE OTSU 1 RECONNISSANCE AIRCRTAFT

The Kawasaki Otsu-1 (another designation: Kawasaki-Salmson) was a Japanese reconnaissance biplane with a fixed landing gear in a classic layout from the interwar period. The drive was provided by a single engine with a power of up to 230 HP. The deck armament consisted of 2-3 7.7 mm machine guns. Kawasaki Otsu-1 was a Japanese, licensed version of the French Salmson 2 reconnaissance aircraft (exactly its A2 version), which was one of the most important machines of this type in French aviation during the First World War. Japan purchased a license to manufacture these successful machines shortly after the end of the Great War, and production was carried out at Kawasaki's facilities and at the military facilities in the city of Tokorazawa. The exact number of these machines produced is only an estimate, but it is assumed that at least 600 aircraft of this type were manufactured. It is worth adding that the Kawasaki Otsu-1 was the basic reconnaissance aircraft of the Japanese army in the early 1920s.