Saturday 18 May 2019

Mitsubishi Ki-30 Foreign users, part one

The Mitsubishi Ki-30 was a Japanese light bomber of World War II that also served with other countries.

  • France: After the end of the World War II, many Ki-30s were left behind in Indochina. French authorities pushed them into service and some of them served in liaision duties in the First Indochina War, with the Escadrille de Liaison 99 (Liaison Flight 99). Their fate is unknown, but they were most probably destroyed and/or scrapped.
  • China: As the Ki-30 served in mainland China during World War II, and specially in the Manchurian region, when the region was taken over by the USSR in 1945 and handed over to Chinese Communists, three Ki-30s that were based there were taken over by Chinese Communist authorities, that set up a flying school using (along with many other types) Ki-30s in the city of Harbin (capital city of Manchuria). They served during the 1945-1949 period of the Chinese Civil War as trainers and were withdrawn from service in the early 1950s.
    EDIT: It seems that the Republic of China Air Force, also employed them, we found some photos and profiles and updated the drawings. Apparently, they were employed during the late stages of World War II in China and the subsequent Chinese Civil War.
  • Indonesia: As another theatre of operation where the Ki-30s served was the Indonesia islands, some of them were captured by Indonesian rebels when the Japanese authorities left and pushed them into service with their newly created army. They served during the Indonesian National Revolution from 1945 until 1949. 









Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Ki-30
2. http://www.traditions-air.fr/index.htm (translated)

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