Tachikawa Ki-55

Tachikawa Ki-55
Role	Military Advanced Training aircraft
Manufacturer	Tachikawa Aircraft Company Ltd
First flight	September 1939
Retired	1945 (Japan); 1953 (China)
Primary users	Imperial Japanese Army Air Force; Royal Thai Air Force
Produced	1940 - 1943
Number built	1,389
Developed from	Tachikawa Ki-36

The Tachikawa Ki-55 was a Japanese advanced trainer.

Design and development

The excellent characteristics of the Tachikawa Ki-36 made it potentially ideal as a trainer. This led to the development of the Ki-36 with a single machine-gun. After successful testing of a prototype in September 1939, the type was put into production as the Army Type 99 Advanced Trainer.

In all 1,389 were constructed before production ended in December 1943 with Tachikawa having built 1078 and Kawasaki 311.

Both the Ki-55 and the Ki-36 were given the Allied nickname 'Ida.'

Variant

Ki-55 : Two-seat advanced trainer aircraft.
Ki-72 : improved version. Not built.

Operators

Republic of China

Republic of China Air Force operated captured aircraft.

People's Republic of China

People's Liberation Army Air Force operated more than 30 captured aircraft at the end of 1945. These Ki-55s were used until the last 14 retired in 1953.

Japan

Imperial Japanese Army Air Force

Kumagaya Army Flying School
Mito Army Flying School
Tachiarai Army Flying School
Utsonomiya Army Flying School

Republic of Korea

Republic of Korea Air Force operated ex-Japanese aircraft.

Manchukuo

Manchukuo Air Force

Thailand

Royal Thai Air Force

Francillon also mentions deliverance to the Japanese satellite air force of Cochinchina, which means the southernmost third part of present Vietnam^[1]

Specifications (Ki-55)

Data from Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War^[2]

General characteristics

Crew: 2

Performance Armament
one fixed, forward-firing 7.7mm (0.303in) Type 89 machine gun

References

Notes

^ Francillon 1979, p. 252.
^ Francillon 1979, p. 253.

Bibliography

Francillon, Ph.D., René J. Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1970 (2nd edition, 1979. ISBN 0-370-30251-6.; 3rd edition 1987, Putnam Aeronautical Books. ISBN 0-85177-801-1.)

This aircraft of the 1930s article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] Francillon 1979, p. 252.

[2] Francillon 1979, p. 253.

[1]

[2]

v t e Tachikawa aircraft
Imperial Japanese Army types	Ki-9 Ki-17 Ki-24 Ki-25 Ki-26 Ki-29 Ki-36 Ki-54 Ki-55 Ki-70 Ki-71 Ki-72 Ki-74 Ki-77 Ki-92 Ki-94 Ki-104 Ki-106 Ki-110 Ki-111 Ki-114 SS-1 T.S. 1 R-38
World War II Allied reporting names	Cedar Clara Hickory Ida (Ki-36) Ida (Ki-55) Pat Patsy Sonia Spruce

v t e Imperial Japanese Army Air Service aircraft designations
1-50	Ki-1 Ki-2 Ki-3 Ki-4 Ki-5 Ki-6 Ki-7 Ki-8 Ki-9 Ki-10 Ki-11 Ki-12 Ki-13 Ki-14 Ki-15 Ki-16 Ki-17 Ki-18 Ki-19 Ki-20 Ki-21 Ki-22 Ki-23 Ki-24 Ki-25 Ki-26 Ki-27 Ki-28 Ki-29 Ki-30 Ki-31 Ki-32 Ki-33 Ki-34 Ki-35 Ki-36 Ki-37 Ki-38 Ki-39 Ki-40 Ki-41 Ki-42 Ki-43 Ki-44 Ki-45 Ki-46 Ki-47 Ki-48 Ki-49 Ki-50
51-100	Ki-51 Ki-52 Ki-53 Ki-54 Ki-55 Ki-56 Ki-57 Ki-58 Ki-59 Ki-60 Ki-61 Ki-62 Ki-63 Ki-64 Ki-66 Ki-67 Ki-68 Ki-69 Ki-70 Ki-71 Ki-72 Ki-73 Ki-74 Ki-75 Ki-76 Ki-77 Ki-78 Ki-79 Ki-80 Ki-81 Ki-82 Ki-83 Ki-84 Ki-85 Ki-86 Ki-87 Ki-88 Ki-89 Ki-90 Ki-91 Ki-92 Ki-93 Ki-94 Ki-95 Ki-96 Ki-97 Ki-98 Ki-99 Ki-100
100-	Ki-101 Ki-102 Ki-103 Ki-105 Ki-106 Ki-107 Ki-108 Ki-109 Ki-110 Ki-111 Ki-112 Ki-113 Ki-114 Ki-115 Ki-116 Ki-117 Ki-118 Ki-119 Ki-147 Ki-148 Ki-167 Ki-174 Ki-200 Ki-201 Ki-202 Ki-230

v t e Aviation lists
General	Aircraft manufacturers civil Aircraft engines manufacturers Flight test centres‎ Test pilot schools Airlines Defunct airlines Helicopter airlines Airports Aerobatic teams Civil Aviation Authorities Gliders Museums Registration prefixes Jet airliners Rotorcraft manufacturers Timeline
Military	Air forces Experimental Missiles UAVs Weapons
Accidents / incidents	Commercial airliners by location Fatalities by death toll General aviation Military By registration
Records	Airspeed Altitude Distance Endurance Firsts Large Most-produced aircraft Most-produced rotorcraft

Design and development

Variant

Operators

Specifications (Ki-55)

See also

References