Mitsubishi Ki-15

what is it?

The Mitsubishi Ki-15 "Karigane" (雁, Wild goose), Army Type 97 Command Reconnaissance aircraft (九七式司令部偵察機, Kyunana-shiki sireibu teisatsuki) was a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft and a light attack bomber of the Second Sino-Japanese War and Pacific War. It began as a fast civilian mail-plane. It was a single-engine, low-wing, cantilever monoplane with a fixed tailwheel undercarriage; it carried a crew of two.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · low wing · 12 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 480 km/htop speed
• range 2,400 kmwithout refuelling
• size 2,300 kgmax take-off weight
• built 489made in total

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 90 years ago, in 1936.
• 🏎️Top speed is 3.7× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 12 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🌍Range of 2,400 km: 13× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.3× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1936-05

introduced

1937

retired

1945

status

retired

number built

489

role

military reconnaissance aircraft, light bomber

origin

Empire of Japan

makers

Mitsubishi

engines

1× Nakajima Ha-8

crew

2

length

8.7 m

wingspan

12 m

height

3.4 m

max take-off weight

2,300 kg

top speed

480 km/h

cruise speed

320 km/h

range

2,400 km

ceiling

11,400 m

wings

low wing

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.