KAWASAKI TYPE 88-2 BOMBER

The Kawasaki Type 88 (another designation: Kawasaki KDA-2) was a Japanese reconnaissance and bomber bomber with a fixed undercarriage from the interwar period. The drive - in the Type 88-II version - was provided by a single, licensed engine BMW VI with a power of 630 hp. The flight of the prototype took place in 1927, and serial production continued in the years 1929-1932, ending with the production of about 1,100 examples of this aircraft. The deck armament consisted of two 7.7 mm machine guns. The Type 88 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-2. After minor corrections were introduced, they were put into serial production, which began in 1929. Several versions of this successful aircraft were created in its course: Type 88-I (the basic and chronologically first production series of the reconnaissance version), Type 88-II (an improved reconnaissance version with marginal design changes), Type 88 (bomb version with a load capacity of up to 400 kg of bombs). ). Both versions of this aircraft took part in the initial period of the Japanese-Chinese war in 1937-1945.