Kawanishi K-3

The Kawanishi K-3 was a fast multipurpose civil transport completed in October 1921, developed from the Kawanishi K-1 with more power and a cleaner aerodynamic shape. A wooden, fabric covered single-bay biplane, it was designed to carry two passengers in an open cockpit under the wing, with the pilot in a second cockpit well behind, or mail and other cargo. It was the first Japanese aircraft to use a Maybach Mb.IVa six cylinder water-cooled engine, one of the airship engines Japan received as war reparations after the First World War, and its radiator sat in the upper wing centre section to reduce drag. As the fastest civil aircraft in Japan, with the speed of a fighter and the load of a light bomber, it raised hopes of commercial success, but surplus Army trainers filled the light transport market and only one was built. In 1926 it was refitted with a Benz engine and became the K-3B.