Kawasaki Ki 32 [Mary]

Kawasaki Ki-32[/heading]
キ32九八式轻爆击机 - Kyuhachi-shiki keibakugekiki - Army single-engined light bomber, Type 98

Allied reporting name: Mary

History:
The command of the imperial army air force (大日本帝国陸軍航空本部 Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun Kōkū Hombu) in may 1936 published the technical specifications, which required a light bomber, which will at the same time able to provide direct support to the ground troops. The desired aircraft had to replace the aging bomber the Kawasaki Ki-3. In the thirties of the last century was this category of aircraft is very popular and perhaps the air force of all states should have in your arsenal, and the japanese army air force was not in this respect an exception.

Technical specifications Rikugun Kōkū Hombu foresaw a two-digit transposition of the aircraft, the highest speed should be at least at the level of 400 km/h at a height of 3 000 metres, this height should ascend to 8 minutes. Borne pumová burden should be at least 300 kg and the overload then up to 450 kg. The bombing of the operating height of the 2 000 – 4 000 m should be feasible even at an angle of 60°. Specifications to determine, inter alia, also the power unit, which should be in the light bomber used. It was the three engines - the inline dvanáctiválec Kawasaki Ha-9-IIb and two dvouhvězdicové čtrnáctiválce Nakajima Ha-5KAI and competitive Mitsubishi Ha-6.

After the publication of the technical specifications, however, not completely a classic competition, the headquarters of the army air force was appealing primarily to two companies to make the competition known (it is true that the competition also signed up two other companies with their projects, but those of the competition soon withdrew). The first of these two preferred companies have been 三菱重工業株式会社 - Mitsubishi Jūkōgyō Kabushiki Kaisha (hereinafter referred to as Mitsubishi), which provided the project Ki-30 (later it was this aircraft known under the allied code name Ann) and the second oslovenou was 川崎航空工機業株式会社 - Kawasaki Kōkūki Kōgyō Kabushiki Kaisha (hereinafter called Kawasaki), which presented its project of a light bomber Kawasaki Ki-32, the work of the factory constructors company Kawasaki engineers Isamu Imashi and Shiró Óry. As the first flew a prototype of the Mitsubishi Ki-30 (28. February 1937), aircraft fy Kawasaki was late, less than a month. Initially it was even in the system Kitai army air force assigned the designation Ki-29, which was the project of a light bomber company 立川飛行機株式会社 - Tachikawa Hikōki Kabushiki Kaisha, this project was, however, soon terminated, and the company 中島飛行機株式会社 - Nakajima Hikōki Kabushiki Kaisha should be in this system reserved designation Ki-31, but its designers apparently not led nor the preparatory work on this project.

Let us go back to the company's Kawasaki, where he was a representative of the army air force approved the project submitted and in march 1937 was completed and zalétnut and the first prototype of the Kawasaki Ki-32. It was quite vzhledný all-metal mid with a fixed kapotovaným landing gear and was powered by the already above-mentioned in-line engine Kawasaki Ha-9-II. The company Kawasaki was one of the tradičném defenders and propagátorům in the use of the ordinary engine, and so it is not surprising that it has selected and for the drive its a light bomber. This engine was indeed produced motorářskou the factory Kawasaki and so, here was i, an economic interest. Inline engine Ha-9 had the basics in the German engine BMW VI, which Kawasaki under license produced, later, her motorářské the department started with its own development. In the fuselage under the wing was a smaller bomb bay, covered by a door, here it was possible to hang e.g. twenty patnáctikilogramových bombs or six padesátikilogramových, three stokilogramové or even one bomb weighing 450 kg. In the course of the tests as a continuous source of problems exhibited-mentioned cylinder dvanáctiválec. He was kapotován quite closely the engine cover rectangular cross-section, on the top of it was placed in the cooler of the liquid (the shape of the bonnet a couple of times during the tests changed). The Pilot with the second member of the crew allow a radio operator, bombometčíkem and gunner in one person, were sitting in a common cabin under the long glass cover, shared a cabin with facilitating their mutual communication.

In the army tests was compared with the prototype of the Mitsubishi Ki-30, both the competitive prototypes extensively tested, but with regard to greatly a similar design were both found to be rather similar flight characteristics, Rikugun Kōkū Hombu eventually, prefer the implementation of a prototype of the Mitsubishi Ki-30, because, according to the army evaluators enter more suit air-cooled engine, in particular with regard to the traffic conditions on the field at the airports. It is, moreover, also later fully confirmed.

In the meantime, however, the time of intensive fighting in China and the consumption of such tactical light bombers here was quite large and so are the Rikugun Kōkū Hombu finally decided to embark on the production of a second type of light bomber - Kawasaki Ki-32. The armament was adopted in 1938 as a "army single engine bomber, Type 98" and only in the course of its operational deployment, it was found that the flight characteristics of this bomber are slightly better than what he had the winning competitor of the Mitsubishi Ki-30. Both types have been on the chinese battlefield intensively used and sklízely decent achievements, an essential precondition for their successful deployment, however, was the absence or the weak activity of the enemy air force and also not very effective anti-aircraft defense of the chinese units. Once, however, have been both of these types of light bombers deployed against the allied armies, which were at least a little bit protected by the fighter air force, then the two types of manifested weaknesses, that were characteristic for almost all the japanese aircraft in this period - inadequate or completely missing passive protection and two machine guns puškové caliber (in addition to the already structurally well out of date) also did not provide sufficient defense. All these shortcomings are fully manifested in the battles against the allied armies, and so it is no wonder that the year 1942 marked the end of their short first line service in the pacific battlefield, the remaining aircraft were transferred to training units for combat forces to remain only in China.

Ki-32 so hit the fighting in the French Indochina and the Philippines. To effectively intervene in the fighting on the hong Kong, where they were greatly successful. On this battlefield it was this type of assigned code name Mary.

The company Kawasaki has built eventually more aircraft than the company Mitsubishi. Pilots and mechanics, however, constantly complained of the fork-water-cooled engines, criticism has been their sensitivity to the surrounding temperature, the higher the performance of maintenance and also a higher vulnerability in the fight. The fact is that no other japanese army bomber was powered by an inline engine.

Kawasaki Ki-32 formed the armament of the u 3, 6, 10, 35, 45, 65 and 75.Sentai

sources:
René J. Francillon Phd, Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis Maryland, Reprinted 1990, ISBN: 0-87021-313-X
Robert C. Mikesh and Abe Shorzoe Abe, Japanese Aircraft, 1910-1941. Annapolis, MD, Naval Institute Press, 1990. ISBN: 1-55750-563-2.
Chris Bishop, Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II, Barnes & Noble, 1998, ISBN: 1-58663-762-2
Václav Němeček, Military aircraft 3 part, the second edition, Our Troops, Prague 1992, ISBN 80-206-0117-1
Zbyněk War, single engine bomber and torpédová aircraft 1939-1945, Jan Piskiewicz, Větrovany, 2003, ISBN 80-83768-01-5
www.pilotfriend.com
http://www.cofe.ru/avia/K/K-22.htm
avia.russian.ee
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/bww2/ki32.html
the archive of the author.

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