Watanabe E9W Type 96 “Slim”
Japan had followed several other navies in attempting to develop small seaplanes to be carried on and launched by submarines. It was hoped that aircraft of this type could extend the scouting range of submarines, […]
Articles by PE Matt
Yokosuka E6Y Type 91
The Japanese had observed with interest attempts in the west to create submarine-launched aircraft. The Japanese Navy had a particular interest in developing this capability in order to extend the reconnaissance capability of their submarines […]
Japanese Shisaku Seizo Designations
From 1931, new experimental aircraft under consideration to fulfil the needs of the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service were given a shisaku seizo (trial manufacture) designation. This was combined with the current era year (i.e. […]
CAC Wirraway
The CAC Wirraway was a license-built version of the North America NA-16/AT-6 Texan advanced training aircraft. A commission had been sent from Australia to the United States in order to select an aircraft that could […]
The Flying Tigers In Defence of Rangoon
Whilst the Pacific War was in its opening weeks, the war in China was also continuing. In Chungking, the irrepressible former US Army pilot, Claire Lee Chennault, was preparing to throw into battle his newly […]
Fokker C.XI-W
Known as the “W-Planes” in Netherlands East Indies service, the Fokker C.XI was a two-seat reconnaissance aircraft designed to operate from Dutch cruisers in European and Far Eastern service. It was ordered to replace the […]
Mitsubishi Ki-46 Type 100 “Dinah”
In December 1937 the Japanese Army began a process to replace the Ki-15 reconnaissance aircraft which was proving to be so capable during the China Incident. The specifications were relatively liberal, with the requirement simply […]
Mitsubishi Ki-20 Type 92
The Mitsubishi Ki-20 design was descended from the German Junkers G.38 airliner. The G.38 was the largest land-based aircraft in the world and it was thought it might make a good heavy bomber. Junkers own […]
Mitsubishi B5M Type 97-2 “Mabel”
In 1935 the Japanese Navy issued a request for a new torpedo bomber to replace the inadequate Yokosuka B3Y and B4Y models then available. Mitsubishi put forward a design for a conventional monoplane with fixed […]
British and Dutch Borneo
The island of Borneo was divided between the Dutch, who controlled most of the central and south of the island, and the British who controlled the northern coastal regions of Sarawak, Brunei and British North […]