Dornier Do C transport

In 1927, Kawasaki imported seven aircraft from Dornier including the Do C Komet. Although rejected by the Japanese military, Kawasaki used the Komet to fill an order for three passenger transports from the newspa­per service Asahi Shimbun Sha. The three air­craft, known as the Kawasaki-Dornier Komet, were built from imported components. Kawasaki later imported a Dornier Merkur, an updated Komet, leasing the aircraft as the Kawasaki-Dornier Merkur to Asahi Shimbun. However, this Merkur would instead see ser­vice with the Army as the Aikoku No. 2 after its conversion to an ambulance. Used during the Manchurian Incident, the Aikoku No. 2 was very active in casualty evacuation and upon retirement became a monument. When the Russians invaded Manchuria in 1945, the plane was burned by the retreating Japanese troops.

Dornier Do J Wal flying boat

In 1929, Kawasaki received an order for a pas­senger flying boat. As they already had an imported Dornier Wal flying boat from which to source a design, Kawasaki essentially pro­duced their own version using imported com­ponents from Dornier. A total of three were built by 1930, being flown as liners for regular passenger services.

Dornier Do N heavy bomber

In 1924, the Army asked Kawasaki to produce a bomber to replace types already in service. To this end, Kawasaki enlisted Dornier and BMW as collaborators on what would become the Type 87 Heavy Bomber. Dornier designed the Do N and the plane was built by Kawasaki, the first completed in 1927. After a year of test­ing, the bomber, now called the Type 87, was accepted into army service, the last of the 28 bombers being delivered in 1932. Kawasaki produced the BMW VI for the Type 87 under licence. Equipping a handful of bomber chutai, the Type 87 would see brief action dur­ing the Manchurian Incident of 1931.