Kawanishi E5K

The Kawanishi E5K, short designation E5K1, was a three-seat reconnaissance floatplane built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the early 1930s. It was the Kawanishi-built version of the Yokosuka E5Y, a single-engine seaplane developed at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, and the Navy knew it as the Type 90-3 Reconnaissance Seaplane. The E5K1 was a radial-engined twin-float aircraft powered by a 450 horsepower Bristol Jupiter VIII nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, and two pre-production aircraft were built under the company name Kawanishi Type G. It first flew in October 1931, but problems in development meant that only 20 production aircraft were completed. The type entered service with the Navy in April 1932, and in May 1932 the seaplane tender-oiler Notoro was re-equipped with Type 90-3 seaplanes. By 1932 the Aichi AB-6 was already under development to replace the E5Y and E5K seaplanes.