Kawanishi K-8

The Kawanishi K-8 Transport Seaplane was a single-engined floatplane of the 1920s, designed from early 1925 by Eiji Sekiguchi as a long-range mail carrier for Nippon Koku, the airline subsidiary of Kawanishi. It was a fabric covered wooden monoplane on twin floats, with a crew of two in open cockpits and the same 305 horsepower Maybach Mb.IVa water-cooled inline engine as the K-7, though it was larger and heavier. The first prototype was completed in January 1926 with a shoulder wing, and later aircraft had a parasol wing. Its performance was relatively poor but its stability was good, which made it popular for long flights. Five K-8A were built in 1926 for Nippon Koku, and two K-8B with shorter wings, a slimmer fuselage and better performance were built in 1927 for a patriotic maritime defence association. All seven flew the Osaka and Fukuoka airmail route until they were retired in April 1929.