KAWASAKI TYPE 92 ARMY FIGHTER KDA-5

The Kawasaki Type 92 (another designation: Kawasaki KDA-5) was a Japanese fixed-undercarriage biplane fighter from the interwar period. The drive - in the basic version - was provided by a single, licensed motor BMW VI with a power of 630 hp. The flight of the prototype took place in 1930, and in 1932 the machine entered the line. Approximately 385 examples of this aircraft were produced in the course of serial production. The deck armament consisted of two 7.7 mm machine guns. The Type 92 was designed by an engineer from the German Dornier factory - Richard Vogt - on behalf of the Japanese army command. The first prototypes were created at Kawasaki plants under the factory designation KDA-5. After minor corrections were introduced, they were put into serial production, which began in 1932. Two versions of the plane were created: the first (Type 92 model 1) was powered by a BMW VI engine. Later, the Type 92 model 2 version entered service, with a more powerful BMW VII engine (power increased from 630 to 750 hp). Regardless of the version, the plane was not very popular with pilots due to problems with maintaining horizontal stability in flight, problems with landing and problems with controlling the machine at low ambient temperatures. For these reasons, they were decommissioned relatively quickly, and only a few Type 92s survived until 1941 as training machines.