Kawasaki KDC-2

The Kawasaki KDC-2 was a light civil transport of the late 1920s that Kawasaki developed from its Army Type 88 Reconnaissance Aircraft. The Imperial Maritime Defense Volunteer Association ordered two to be loaned to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, which sponsored a Tokyo to Osaka air service, so the design could be fitted with floats for the over-water route. It was an all-metal single-bay biplane with fabric-covered wings, powered by a water-cooled V12 BMW VI engine, and it carried four passengers in an enclosed cabin behind an open pilot cockpit. Both aircraft were flying by late 1928. They toured Japanese cities to promote air travel, flew mail between Tokyo and Niigata, carried couriers into Manchuria in 1931, and the last was retired in April 1935 after 723 flying hours.