Kawasaki Ki-3 from the front
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The Kawasaki Ki-3 Army Type 93 Light Bomber was one of the last biplane types to replaced by the Japanese Army, remaining in front-line service until 1938.
The Ki-3 was developed from the Kawasaki KDA-6 reconnaissance aircraft, This was an unequal span biplane powered by a BMW IX V-12 engine that visually resembled the rather more familiar Ki-10 Army Type 95 Fighter (Perry). Both aircraft had a radiator mounted under the inline V engine and sloping back towards the streamlined but fixed undercarriage.
The KDA-6 entered service as the Army Type 93 Light Bomber, carrying a crew of two in open tandem cockpits. The aircraft was armed with the entirely conventional pairing of a fixed forward firing 7.7mm machine gun and a flexibly mounted 7.7mm machine gun in the rear cockpit, and could carry up to 500kg/ 1,102lb of bombs. Two hundred and forty three were built, and the type served in Korea and in Manchuria, before playing a major part in the early fighting in China.
In the mid to late 1930s the Japanese Army embarked on a major upgrade programme, but the K-3 and Mitsubishi Ki-2 light bombers were amongst the last of the older aircraft to be replaced. Work on the Mitsubishi Ki-30 'Ann' didn't begin until 1936, and it didn't enter front-line service until 1938.
Engine: BMW IX V-12 inline
Power: 800hp
Crew: 2
Wing span: 42ft 7 3/4in
Maximum Take-off Weight: 6.834lb
Max Speed: 162mph
Armament: One fixed forward firing and one flexibly mounted 7.7mm machine guns
Bomb-load: 500kg/ 1,102lb