Kayaba Ku-2
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The Kayaba Ku-2 and Kayaba Ku-3 were tailless glider prototypes produced by the Kayaba company. They were developed to investigate the possibilities of tailless aircraft. The Kayaba KU-4 was a design for a rocket powered version of the KU-3, however it was abandoned before it was produced.
[edit] Development
In 1938 Dr. Hidemasa Kimura developed a tailess glider designated the HK-1. It was built at Ito Airplane Works, and had a wingspan of 34.8 feet, a length of 11 feet and weighed approximately 448 pounds. The army showed interest in the design, which spurred development of the KU-2 glider. The KU-2 was developed with the help of the Kayaba companies chief designer Shigeki Naito. The KU-2 was a flying wing design, it had two vertical fins at the end of the wings. The KU-2 flew 270 test flights between October 1940 and May 1941.
In 1941 it was decided to produce a more advanced version of the KU-2, the result was the KU-3, which was designed with the assistance of designer Joji Washimi. The design featured several novel features, abandoning the small vertical fins of the KU-2, it had no vertical control surfaces. The wing was a cranked delta design, with three pairs of control surfaces on the trailing edge. The prototype crashed after 60 test flights.
Dr. Kimura went on to design a Ku-4 powered glider, but the project was abandoned by the Army.
[edit] References
- Wooldridge, E.T.. Japanese flying wings. History of the Flying Wing. Retrieved on 29 April 2007.
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