Kawasaki C-5
| Industry | Aircraft manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Japan |
| Products | Civil and military aircraft |
The Kawasaki C-5 (also referred to as the KDC-5) was a Japanese civil aircraft from the 1930s, designed for high-speed, long-distance flights. It was developed specifically for the Asahi Shimbun newspaper to facilitate news collection and distribution throughout the Japanese empire.
Design and development
In June 1933, the Asahi Shimbun placed an order for a rapid, long-range communication plane with Kawasaki, which led to the creation of the Kawasaki KDC-5, often known simply as the C-5. This model was an enlarged civilian adaptation of the single-seat Kawasaki Ki-5 fighter monoplane, modified to include enclosed seating arrangements for two crew members and one passenger.
The aircraft featured a low-wing cantilever monoplane design constructed entirely of metal, with metal skin covering its structure, while the control surfaces were covered in fabric. Its wings incorporated prominent root fairings and tapered smoothly to rounded tips; part of the trailing edge in the center section was cut away.
Equipped with a licensed Kawasaki version of the unsupercharged BMW VIIa V12 engine, its radiator was positioned below the engine. The cockpit layout included a navigator’s station situated behind the pilot, separated by an open space intended for either a passenger or additional equipment. The tailplane was mounted on top of the fuselage and supported from underneath; a triangular fin carried a straight-edged, vertical rudder, with both rudder and elevators featuring aerodynamic balances.
The undercarriage was fixed with a tailwheel, and its legs and wheels were enclosed within broad spats. A distinctive feature of these spats was their division into inner and outer panels behind the landing gear legs, which opened during landing to function as air brakes. The wheels were fitted with standard braking systems.
Operational history
Following development experience gained from the Ki-5 fighter, flight testing of the C-5 took place at Kagamigahara between 17 and 20 February 1934. Registered under Asahi Shimbun, it held the distinction at that time as Japan’s fastest civil aircraft with superior range capabilities, making it ideal for news transmission across the empire during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In March 1934, an attempt at a non-stop flight from Osaka to Xinjing (present-day Changchun) in Manchuria, intended to commemorate Manchuria’s anniversary, was cut short due to fuel freezing shortly after takeoff.
Despite this incident, the C-5 established several speed and distance records. On 14 September 1934, pilots Mosaburo Niino and Kenjii Tsukagoshii completed a 2,630 km flight from Beijing to Tokyo, stopping via Osaka in 9 hours and 34 minutes.
The Asahi Shimbun operated the C-5 alongside the Kawasaki KDA-6/A-6 biplane, which was a larger derivative of the Kawasaki Army Type 92 Fighter/KDA-5.