what is it?
The Kawanishi K8K (long designation - Kawanishi Navy Type 0 Primary Seaplane Trainer) was a Japanese floatplane trainer designed and built by the Kawanishi Aircraft Company for the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was selected for production, but only a small number were built before a change in the Japanese Navy's training needs led to production being stopped.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 9.5 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 88 years ago, in 1938.
- Wingspan of 9.5 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1938-07-08
- introduced
- 1940
- number built
- 15
- role
- floatplane trainer
- origin
- Empire of Japan
- makers
- Kawanishi Aircraft Company
- engines
- 1× Gasuden Jimpu 2
- crew
- 2
- length
- 8.8 m
- wingspan
- 9.5 m
- max take-off weight
- 991 kg
- top speed
- 185 km/h
- cruise speed
- 120 km/h
- range
- 513 km
- ceiling
- 3,940 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q5958741, Wikipedia: Kawanishi K8K (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.