World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseIn 1932, the Japanese Navy requested several Japanese aircraft manufacturers to develop a successor design to the E5K floatplanes; Kawanishi Aircraft Company's E7K design won the competition, beating Aichi Kokuki's AB-6 design. In early 1935, E7K floatplanes entered Japanese Navy service as the Type 94 Reconnaissance Seaplane. In 1938, the variant design E7K2 entered production, equipped with the more powerful Mitsubishi Zuisei 11 engines. E7K aircraft saw extensive service in the war in the late 1930s, but were made obsolete by the start of the Pacific War. They were withdrawn from front line service completely in 1943, relegated to rear area duties. At the end of the war, a number of them were converted for special attack missions. A total of 533 examples were built, 183 of which were of the original E7K1 design and 350 were of the later E7K2 design. Most of them were built by Kawanishi; 117 were built by Nippon Hikoki.

ww2dbaseThe Allied code name for the E7K aircraft design was "Alf".

E7K Timeline

SPECIFICATIONS

E7K1

Machinery	One Hiro Type 91 W-12 liquid-cooled inline engine rated at 620hp
Armament	1x7.7mm fixed Type 92 machine gun, 2x7.7mm trainable Type 92 machine guns, 120kg of bombs
Crew	3
Span	14.00 m
Length	10.50 m
Height	4.85 m
Wing Area	43.60 m²
Weight, Empty	2,100 kg
Weight, Loaded	3,300 kg

E7K2

Machinery	One Mitsubishi Zuisei 11 14 cylinder radial engine rated at 870hp
Armament	1x7.7mm fixed Type 92 machine gun, 2x7.7mm trainable Type 92 machine guns, 120kg of bombs
Crew	3
Span	14.00 m
Length	10.50 m
Height	4.85 m
Wing Area	43.60 m²
Weight, Empty	2,100 kg
Weight, Loaded	3,300 kg
Speed, Maximum	275 km/h
Speed, Cruising	185 km/h
Service Ceiling	7,060 m

Photographs