The Aichi C4A, company designation Aichi AM-20, experimental designation Aichi 13-Shi High-speed Reconnaissance Aircraft, was a late 1930s project by Aichi for a carrier-borne reconnaissance aircraft.
Design and development
In the late 1930s, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS), having felt impressed at the performance of the Mitsubishi Ki-15 for the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS), issued a requirement for a fast reconnaissance aircraft under the IJNAS designation 13-Shi High-speed Reconnaissance Aircraft. Aichi, drawing upon experience designing the Aichi D3A, proposed a single-engine, low wing monoplane powered by a radial engine and fitted with a closed cockpit with two seats in tandem, as well
as a rear-mounted 7.7 mm (0.303 in) machine gun. The design was known by the experimental designation and allocated the short designation C4A by the IJNAS.[1][2]
A full-scale mockup was completed in March 1939 for inspection by IJN officials. However, the IJN decided to shelve the C4A in favor of their own version of the Ki-15, the C5M.[2]
References
^Mikesh, Robert; Shorzoe, Abe (1990). Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941. London: Putnam. p. 79. ISBN0-85177-840-2.
1 X as second letter is for experimental aircraft or imported technology demonstrators not intended for service,
2 Hyphenated trailing letter (-J, -K, -L, -N or -S) denotes design modified for secondary role, 3 Possibly incorrect designation, but used in many sources
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