All Activity

The Tachikawa Ki-9 (九五式一型練習機, Kyūgo-shiki ichigata renshuki) was an intermediate training aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force built by Tachikawa Aircraft Company Ltd in the 1930s. It was known to the Allies under the nickname of "Spruce" during World War II. This aircraft was mistakenly identified as a Tatchikawa by the British. The Ki-9 was a two-seat, unequal wingspan biplane design. Tachikawa originally planned to use the same basic airframe for both basic training and intermediate training, differentiating the two models by the use of different engines. The prototype Ki-9 flew on 7 January 1935, powered by a 261 kW (350 hp) nine-cylinder Hitachi Ha-13a radial engine. The second prototype was identical, and the third prototype was powered by a 112 hp (80 kW) Nakajima NZ seven-cylinder radial engine. The third prototype exhibited stability problems due to a center of gravity issue, and, as a result, the primary trainer model was abandoned and the Ki-9 was developed only for the intermediate trainer. Tachikawa subsequently developed the Ki-17 for the primary trainer role. The first production aircraft were delivered in 1935. The Ki-9 was introduced to service as the Army Type 95-1 Medium Grade Trainer Model A under the former aircraft naming nomenclature system. The first version had a complex, split-axle landing gear with fairings over the top of the wheels. In 1939, this was modified and simplified, the fuselage slightly shortened, and the total weight reduced. The resulting Army Type 95-1 Model B or Ki-9-kai had improved maneuverability and flight characteristics. This version was quickly superseded by the Army Type 95-1 Model C, or Ki-9-otsu, in full production. Both versions were used widely for blind-flying training with a folding hood over the rear cockpit, and several were modified with a glazed canopy over the rear cockpit for use as a staff officer transport plane. Some were pressed into service for use as "special attack" (kamikaze in American terminology) aircraft in the closing days of the war, fitted with either a 100 kg anti-ship bomb, an oil drum filled with explosives, or fuel in the rear cockpit. Production by Tachikawa totaled 2,395 aircraft, ending in 1942. At least another 220 Ki-9s were constructed by Tokyo Gasu Denki (also known as Gasuden) from 1943 to 1945. The Ki-9 was also flown in wartime by Japanese satellite countries and postwar by the fledgling government of Indonesia and captured units by the Republic of China. Variants Ki-9 (Army Type 95-1 Medium Grade Trainer Model A): Initial version two-seat intermediate trainer aircraft. Ki-9-ko (Army Type 95-1 Medium Grade Trainer Model B): Improved version. Ki-9-otsu (Army Type 95-1 Medium Grade Trainer Model C): Standard production version.

The Tachikawa KKY, full name Tachikawa Army Small and Light Ambulance Aircraft, was designed to rescue injured or sick patients from places without established airfields. Following two earlier prototypes, twenty-one production examples were built between 1936 and 1940 and served in the Second Sino-Japanese War. In August 1932, the Japanese Army placed an order for a small ambulance aircraft, capable of using rough airstrips and holding two stretcher cases and a medical attendant, with what was then the Aeroplane Factory of Ishikawajima Shipbuilding Company. Though the prototype was completed in December 1933, its development was protracted, and it was not ready for production until 1936. By then, the Ishikawajima Company had become the Tachikawa Aeroplane Co. It was a single bay cabin biplane with wings attached to the upper and lower longerons and braced on each side with near-parallel interplane struts. The wings had wooden structures and were fabric-covered. The KKY was powered by a 120–130 hp (89–97 kW) Cirrus Hermes IV four cylinder air-cooled, inverted inline engine and the later KKY-2 by a 150 hp (110 kW) Gasuden Jimpu seven cylinder radial engine. The fuselage had a welded steel tube structure, flat-sided behind the engine, with a windowed cabin that included the pilot's seat just ahead of the wing leading edge with the patients and attendant under the wing. The tail, with an aluminium structure and fabric-covered, was conventional with a tailplane on top of the fuselage and braced to it from below. The vertical tail had a strongly-blunted triangular profile. As its purpose was to rescue patients from rough airfields or unmade airstrips, the ambulance needed a robust undercarriage. This had split axles mounted on a short, central, V-strut from the fuselage underside. Both short, faired shock absorber legs and their rearward drag struts were mounted on the lower fuselage longerons. Wheels with wide, low-pressure tires were available for missions to unmade strips. Twenty-one Aikoku-go (privately funded) production KKYs were built between 1936 and 1940. They were active in the Second Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1937 and became part of World War II, when China entered on the Allies' side shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.