DISCONTINUED MITSUBISHI KI-30 "ANN" AT WAR

The Mitsubishi Ki-30 was a Japanese metal-structure light bomber from the interwar period and World War II. The drive was provided by a single engine Nakajima Ha-5 Kai with 950 hp. The prototype flight took place in February 1937, and serial production continued in the years 1938-1941, ending with the production of about 700 copies of this aircraft. The deck armament consisted of two 7.7 mm Type 89 machine guns. The plane could also carry a load of bombs weighing up to 450 kilograms. The Mitsubishi Ki-30 was commissioned by the Air Force Command of the Army, which in 1936 wanted to obtain a machine with combat parameters and capabilities similar to those presented by the Fairey Battle plane. It also aimed to replace the increasingly obsolete Kawasaki Ki-3 aircraft in the line. The new machine, the Mitsubishi Ki-30, began to enter the line in 1938. These planes went mainly to China, where they took part in the Japanese-Chinese war of 1937-1945, serving until its end. After the outbreak of World War II, they also found their way to the Philippines and Indochina. However, from 1942 they were systematically transferred to training units, and at the end of the war they were used for suicide attacks - kamikaze. During World War II, their only foreign users were Thailand, and after 1945 - China and Indonesia.