what is it?
The Kayaba Ka-1 and Ka-2 were a series of autogyros produced by the Japanese manufacturer Kayaba Industry. Their official Army designation was the "Ka-Gō observation aircraft" (カ号観測機, Ka-gō-kansokuki) (Gō being translatable as "number"). It was the first series of armed autogyros to be used operationally.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine · 12.2 m main rotor
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 85 years ago, in 1941.
- Rotor of 12.2 m: about 3 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
- 1941-05-26
- number built
- 98
- role
- autogyro
- makers
- Kayaba
- engines
- 1× Argus As 10c / Argus As 10 / R-755
- crew
- 2
- length
- 9.2 m
- rotor diameter
- 12.2 m
- max take-off weight
- 1,170 kg
- top speed
- 165 km/h
- cruise speed
- 115 km/h
- range
- 280 km
- ceiling
- 3,500 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q564130, Wikipedia: Kayaba Ka-1 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.