Mitsubishi Ki-15

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Ki-15 "Babs"
Type	Military reconnaissance machine
Manufacturer	Mitsubishi
Maiden flight	May 1936
Retired	1945
Status	out of serviced
Primary users	Imperial Japanese Army Imperial Japanese Navy
Number built	approx. 500

The Mitsubishi Ki-15 was a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft of the Sino-Japanese and Pacific Wars. It was a single-engine, low-wing, cantilever monoplane with a fixed tailwheel undercarriage; it carried a crew of two. It served with the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy; the navy knew it as the C5M During the Pacific War, it was assigned the code-name "Babs" by the Allies.

Contents 1 Development 2 Operational history 3 Variants 4 Aircraft markings 5 Operators 6 Specifications (Ki-15-I) 7 References 8 External links 9 Related content

[edit] Development

The Ki-15 was developed in response to an Army requirement for a two-seat reconnaissance aircraft. Two prototypes were constructed: one military, the other civil. Satisfactory service testing resulted in the Army accepting the type for production.

The civil prototype had, meanwhile, established a new record flight time between Japan and England on a flight to celebrate the coronation of HM King George VI.

[edit] Operational history

Following the success of the Japan-England flight, a small number of Ki-15s was sold to civil customers but the principle user remained the Army, who ordered it into production as the Army Typed 97 Command Reconnaissance Plane Model I; they took delivery of the first aircraft in May 1937.

The proved useful in the early period of the Sino-Japanese War and proved immune to interception until the Chinese acquired Soviet Polikarpov I-16 fighters.

Plans were already in hand to improve the Ki-15 and in September 1939 the Ki-15-II was put into production with the 677-kW (900-hp) Mitsubishi Ha-26-1; the smaller diameter of this both reduced drag and improved the pilot's field of view. The Navy ordered twenty of these, as the C5M1 or Navy Type 98 Reconnaissance Plane Model I, even before the Army.

Subsequent upgrades were the navy C5M2 with 708-kW (950-hp) Nakajima Sakae 12 engine, of which thirty were purchased and the Army Ki-15-III with 783-kW (1,050-hp) Mitsubishi 102 radial, which did not enter production.

By 1943, the type had been relegated to second-line roles but numbers were expended in kamikaze attacks in the closing stages of World War II.

[edit] Variants

• Civil Ki-15
• Ki-15-I
• C5M1
• C5M2
• Ki15-II
• Ki-15-III

[edit] Aircraft markings

[edit] Operators

•  Japan
  • Imperial Japanese Army
  • Imperial Japanese Navy

[edit] Specifications (Ki-15-I)

Data from ^[1]

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Length: 8.7 m (28 ft 6.5 in)
• Wingspan: 12.0 m (39 ft 4.5 in)
• Height: 3.35 m (11 ft 0 in)
• Wing area: 20.36 m² (219.16 ft²)
• Empty weight: 1,400 kg (3,086 lb)
• Loaded weight: kg (lb)
• Useful load: kg (kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 2,300 kg (5,071 lb)
• Powerplant: 1× Nakajima Ha-8 9-cylinder radial piston, 477-kW (640-hp)

Performance

• Never exceed speed: km/h (knots, mph)
• Maximum speed: 480 km/h at 4,000 m (298 mph at 13,125 ft)
• Cruise speed: 320 km/h at 5,000 m (199 mph at 16,405 ft)
• Stall speed: km/h (knots, mph)
• Range: 2,400 km (1,491 mi)
• Service ceiling: 11,400 m (37,400 ft)
• Rate of climb: m/s (ft/min)
• Wing loading: kg/m² (lb/ft²)
• Power/mass: W/kg (hp/lb)

Armament

one 7.7-mm (0.303-in) machine gun

[edit] References

1. ^ Mondey, David. The Concise Guide to Axis Aircraft of World War II. 

[edit] External links

[edit] Related content