Kawanishi E7K

The Kawanishi E7K was a three-seat reconnaissance seaplane designed and produced by the Kawanishi Aircraft Company for the Imperial Japanese Navy, and the Allies gave it the reporting name Alf. It was developed from 1932 as the replacement for the Kawanishi E5K, an equal-span twin-float biplane with a crew of pilot, observer and radio operator. The first prototype flew on 6 February 1933 and the type entered service in 1935 as the Navy Type 94 Reconnaissance Seaplane. The E7K1 used a Hiro W-12 inline engine that proved unreliable, and the E7K2 of 1938 introduced a Mitsubishi Zuisei radial engine. About 530 were built, some by Nippon Hikoki, and many ended the war in kamikaze attacks.