Micubiši Ki 2 [Louise]

Mitsubishi Ki-2 – overview of versions
- / - / Louise
九三式双軽爆撃機 /Kyusan-shiki sokei bakugekiki / Army lightweight twin-engine bomber Type 93

Mitsubishi Ki-2-I
Produced in the 126ti piece series, identical with the prototype, manufactured from may 1933 (prototype) and 1936

Mitsubishi Ki-2-II
Produced 61 aircraft, mounted engines, Ha-8, which enabled the increase in performance along with better aerodynamics and greater pumovou burden, in service from April 1937, the last aircraft delivered in 1938

Othori – Phoenix
Civilian remote version using the hull of the Mitsubishi Ki-2-II built for the Asahi Shimbun. This machine became the holder of several long-distance records

The production gave a total of 187 aircraft Ki-2 Type 93, and took place in the parent factory
Mitsubishi Jukogyo Kabushiki
• 113 aircraft Ki-2-I, ( 1933 - 1936)
• Of the 61 aircraft of the Ki-2-II (1937 - 1938)
Kawasaki Kokuki Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha / licensed production
• 13 aircraft, the Ki-2-I ( 1934 - 1935 ).

Mitsubishi Ki-2

History:

- In September of 1932, Rikugun Koku Hombu finally decided to replace the aging bombers Mitsubishi Type 87 and is provisionally used a light bomber Kawasaki Type 88. This decision was formulated in the technical specifications, which required a reliable, easy to use twin-engine aircraft, which had to endure the damage caused by the fire from the earth, and even here was put a requirement on the ability of the flight on one engine. The aircraft had to allow operations in degraded weather and also at night.

- A contract acquired by the company 三菱重工業株式会社 - Mitsubishi Jūkōgyō Kabushiki Kaisha (hereinafter referred to as Mitsubishi), which similarly as in the case of his type of Ki-1 i now use Junkersovu design, this time it was Junkers K37, which japanese designers slightly modified and improved. The proposed changes have touched the chassis, the one I got the hydraulic shock absorbers and the next change should be a spinning turret, which should be closed, but it has not passed and the army corps of engineers this proposal vigorously rejected. In consultation with the design engineers to get even the representatives of the technical departments of the army air force recover the possibility of sealing cylinder engines the blinds. So should be allowed the aircraft to operate in Siberia, here is the army saw further scope for its operations.

- The first prototype was made with a small advance already in may 1933. The results of the test flights have been satisfactory, the pilots was appreciated easy maneuverability and easy operation. The tragic accident of the prototype, in which was killed the complete crew, did not affect the classification of aircraft into service and so even in 1933 he was admitted as a "army lightweight twin-engine bomber, Type 93-I".

- The air force took over in the years 1933 - 1936 126 aircraft from Mitsubishi, and from the Kawasaki, the second company but the production involved, rather symbolically, and that only thirteen pieces.

- In the years 1936 - 1938 supplied by the parent factory of the other sixty-one aircraft, these aircraft have undergone a fairly significant upgrade, the designation was changed to Mitsubishi Ki-2-II. Konstruktéru Nobushiro Nakatovi finally managed to push through the replacement of the front turret globular turret, further replaced some of the wing panels of corrugated duralumin plate (heritage taken over from the Junkerse) aerodynamičtějšími smooth panels. The chassis was retractable, the engines more powerful Ha-8 and propeller were now metal dvoulisté with a fixed angle of attack of the blades. All these adjustments allow the increase of performances.

- Mitsubishi Ki-2 was deployed mainly on the battlefields in China and Manchuria, where it was used for prvoliniových units until the end of the thirties. His popularity was great and also well deserved, the performances were higher than Ki-1, or Ki-3. After the outbreak of the war in the Pacific got this type of aircraft allied code name Louise, the intelligence service, that is still classified as a bomber, but this was no longer true, since the beginning of the forties, served a Ki-2 already only to the training of new crews in flight schools.

- A separate chapter deserves the Othori - the Phoenix, the aircraft built on the basis of the airframe of the Ki-2-II. It was a civil remote connecting aircraft, who ordered the press group Asahi Shimbun. He flew with the matriculation J-BAAE and bore the name of "Nanshin-Go" (March to the Pacific (jpn)). the plane has won several long-distance records, for example, in September 1936 indoor pool 2 000 km in a time of 9 hours and 10 minutes, the distance between Tokyo and mandžuským the city of Sin-tingem. The last known flight, the flight was a long 9 300 km of the February, 1939, when the newsworthiness of the crew spread around the perimeter of the Japanese occupied territory in China.

sources:
Rene J. Francillon Phd, Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN: 087021313X
Robert C Mikesh and Shorzoe Abe, Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941, Naval Institute Press, Anapolis, year 1990, ISBN: 1557505632
www.aviastar.org
the archive of the author.