Kawasaki Ki-3

The Kawasaki Ki-3, officially the Army Type 93 Single-engine Light Bomber, was the last biplane bomber built for the Imperial Japanese Army. It grew out of a private venture reconnaissance prototype, the KDA-6, designed by the German engineer Richard Vogt with Takeo Doi as his assistant; the army rejected that aircraft after its procurement rules changed, but Kawasaki reused the design for this contract. The Ki-3 had an all-metal structure with fabric covering, staggered wings, a fixed landing gear and a supercharged BMW-derived V12 engine, with one fixed forward machine gun, one flexible dorsal gun and up to 500 kg of bombs. It flew in 1933, and 243 were built. It served first in Korea and then in Manchukuo and North China, where it was a rugged ground-attack aircraft, although its supercharger was a constant source of trouble.