During the China Incident the Japanese Navy had made extensive use of floatplanes to augment their land-based units. The Japanese faced a lack of suitable airfields around the coastal cities that were conquered between 1937 […]
In 1938 Japan acquired one of the prototype Heinkel He 118 dive bombers that the Luftwaffe had rejected in favour of the Junkers Ju 87. Although this aircraft crashed during trials, its overall performance had […]
As soon as the Kawanishi H6K entered service, the Imperial Japanese Navy began the search for an improved flying boat to eventually supplant the Type 96. The 13-Shi specifications called for a new flying boat […]
The Mitsubishi Ki-57 started life as a design for a new airliner for Nippon Koku, the Japanese airline. It was derived from the successful Ki-21 bomber, which had impressed the airline with its ability to […]
Whilst the Aichi E10A was accepted for service, the Japanese Navy knew that the aircraft was still lacking in outright performance and only just met the requirements for acceptance. Accordingly, new specifications were issued in […]
The Japanese plans for war against the United States included using cruisers and other light forces to harry the US Fleet as it sailed across the Pacific. Realising that the sort of attrition envisaged would […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
In 1935 the Japanese Navy issued their 10-Shi requirements for two new carrier based aircraft, a torpedo bomber and a reconnaissance plane. The torpedo bomber design created by Nakajima became the famous B5N, but the […]
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