Tachikawa Ki-55


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-55 with a single machine gun. After successful testing of a prototype in September 1939, the type was put into production as the Tachikawa Army Type 99 Advanced Trainer.
In all 1,389 Ki-55 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.'

Variants

;Ki-36 : Army co-operation aircraft.
;Ki-72 : An evolved version with a Hitachi Ha38 engine and retractable undercarriage. Not built.

Operators

; Reorganized National Government of China
Francillon also mentions delivery to the Japanese satellite air force of Cochinchina, the southernmost third part of present Vietnam

Specifications (Ki-55)