Mitsubishi Ki-18

The Mitsubishi Ki-18 was an unsolicited Mitsubishi entry in the Imperial Japanese Army competition of 1934 for a modern single-seat monoplane fighter, a contest in which Nakajima offered the Ki-11 and Kawasaki the Ki-10 biplane, which won. The Ki-18 was a modified version of Mitsubishi's Navy Ka-14 prototype: a low-wing, all-metal monoplane with fabric-covered control surfaces and a Nakajima Kotobuki radial engine. It first flew in August 1935 and reached 444 kilometres per hour in tests, with an outstanding rate of climb. The Army research institute nonetheless opposed adopting a Navy design, so only one Ki-18 was built, while the near-identical Ka-14 entered Navy service as the A5M.