what is it?
The Kawasaki Ki-3 (九三式単軽爆撃機, Kyūsan-shiki tankei bakugekiki) was a light bomber built by Kawasaki Kōkūki Kōgyō K.K. for the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) in the 1930s. It was the last biplane bomber design to be produced for the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, and it saw combat service in Manchukuo and in North China during the early stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
How to recognise it: 1 engine · biplane · 13 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 93 years ago, in 1933.
- Top speed is 2.0× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 13 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1933
- introduced
- 1934
- number built
- 243
- role
- light bomber
- origin
- Empire of Japan
- makers
- Kawasaki Aerospace Systems Company
- engines
- 1× Supercharged BMW IX liquid-cooled V12 engine
- crew
- 2
- length
- 10 m
- wingspan
- 13 m
- height
- 3 m
- max take-off weight
- 3,097 kg
- top speed
- 259 km/h
- range
- —
- ceiling
- 7,000 m
- wings
- biplane
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q2019852, Wikipedia: Kawasaki Ki-3 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.