Nakajima Army Type Ko Model 4 Fighter / Nieuport-Delage NiD 29 - video

An extremely rare but short video today features Nakajima Army Type Ko Model 4 Fighters.

Here's what the English Wiki has to say about the type:

"The Japanese company Nakajima bought a pattern aircraft and built 608 for the Imperial Japanese Army as the Ko-4."

And here's what the Japanese Wiki has on the type:

In Japan, after importing 110 completed “NiD 29 C.1” aircraft, Nakajima Aircraft acquired the license to produce the aircraft. The first domestically produced aircraft made its maiden flight in December 1923, and 608 units were produced for the Imperial Japanese Army as the Type Ko Model 4 Fighter. In addition, the Army Artillery Arsenal produced 46 aircraft. Japan was the country that adopted the “NiD 29” (referred to in Japan at the time as the “Type ニ Model 29 Fighter”; “ニ” is the katakana initial of 「ニューポール」 (Nieuport)) in the greatest numbers worldwide.

The “Ko” type was manufactured by Nieuport, the “Otsu” type by Salmson, the “Hei” type by Spad, the “Tei” type by Farman, the “Bo” type by Cordonnier, and the “Ki” type by Henriot. The designation “Model 4” indicates that three other Nieuport models had already been adopted by the Imperial Japanese Army. "Model 3" was the Nieuport 24C.1 Trainer/Fighter, "Model 2" was the Nieuport 83 E.2 Trainer and, "Model 1" was the Nieuport 81 E.2 Trainer.

The engine installed in this aircraft was the “Mitsubishi Hispano-Suiza 300-horsepower engine,” a domestic version of the “Hispano-Suiza HS-8Fb water-cooled V-8 gasoline engine, 300 hp” produced at the “Mitsubishi Internal Combustion Engine Co., Ltd., Nagoya Works.” (The abbreviation for “Hispano-Suiza-type” was “I-type” in the Army and “Hi-type” in the Navy.) 

It employed a Lamblin radiator, which offered low air resistance, and was mounted at the base of the main landing gear.

This aircraft was the first fighter to be mass-produced by the Imperial Japanese Army. It was the first Imperial Japanese Army aircraft to be equipped with two 7.7 mm machine guns (the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Mitsubishi 1MF Fighter was the first to adopt them), which were mounted above the engine and in front of the pilot’s windscreen.

Although it served as the Imperial Japanese Army’s main fighter during the Manchurian Incident, it saw almost no actual combat and was later sold off to the civilian sector for use as training aircraft and other purposes. Its successor was the Type 91 Fighter.