Kawasaki Ki-28

The Kawasaki Ki-28 was an experimental fighter that Kawasaki built for the Imperial Japanese Army as a replacement for the Ki-10. In mid-1935 Kawasaki, Mitsubishi and Nakajima were each told to build competing prototypes. Kawasaki based its entry on its earlier, unsuccessful Ki-5: a low-wing all-metal cantilever monoplane with fixed landing gear and a liquid-cooled V12 engine of about 800 horsepower. It flew in 1936 and proved the fastest of the three contenders, but the Nakajima Ki-27 was far more maneuverable and was chosen, so the Ki-28 never entered production. The experience helped Kawasaki with its later Ki-60 and Ki-61 fighters. The Allies mistakenly assigned it the reporting name Bob.