Aichi C4A
{{Short description|Japanese reconnaissance aircraft project}}
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|name = Aichi C4A |image = |caption = }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type |type = Carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft |national origin= Japan |manufacturer = Aichi Kokuki |designer = |first flight = |introduction = |retired = |status = project only |primary user = Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (intended) |more users = |produced = |number built = 0 |program cost = |unit cost = |developed from = |variants with their own articles = }} |
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 {{cvt|7.7|mm|3}} machine gun. The design was known by the experimental designation and allocated the short designation C4A by the IJNAS.{{cite book |last1=Mikesh |first1=Robert |title=Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941 |year=1990 |publisher=Putnam |location=London |isbn=0-85177-840-2 |last2=Shorzoe |first2=Abe |page=79}}
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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.valka.cz/Aici-C4A1-13-Si-t86363|title=Aiči C4A1 13-Ši : Aiči|website=valka.cz|date=19 July 2009 }}
References
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{{Aichi aircraft}}
{{Japanese Navy short aircraft designations}}
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