Mitsubishi "Tobi" Experimental Reconnaissance a/c

Since we posted the photo of the IJNAF 2MR2 yesterday and you liked it so much, here's a photo of an experimental IJAAf aircraft.
In 1926 the IJAAF wanted to replace the older Otsu 1 (Salmson 2A2) reconnaissance aircraft and asked four companies, Ishikawajima, Kawasaki, Mitsubishi and Nakajima to submit their proposed designs and prototypes for competitive trials.
Mitsubishi's design team included Nakata Nobushiro as chief designer with Tokunaga Satsuo assisted by Dr Alexander Baumann, a Stuttgart University professor. The result was a very unusual aircraft with the top wing very higher than the lower to improve visibility. To reduce drug the number of struts was significantly reduced and to improve communication between the crew the observer's seat was placed right behind the pilot's. It had the possibility to change the wheels to floats.
In July 1927 the first prototype was delivered and during trials reached a speed of 227km/h at 5,000m, faster than the Army requirements, with Mitsubishi test pilot Ito Jiro.
Nevertheless during the Army competitive tests, there was problem with the shock absorber of the landing gear, one of the wheels fell off and during landing the a/c was damaged.
Total number of aircraft completed was two and received the company designation 2MR1 and the name "Tobi" meaning kite.

DATA

Engine: 450-600hp Mitsubishi Hispano-suiza 12-cylinder V water-cooled, Mitsubishi-Reed fixed-pitch two-bladed metal prop.

Dimensions - Span: 17.40m, Length: 9.55m, Height: 4.35, Wing area: 50sqm, Empty weight: 1,350kg, Fully loaded: 2,500kg, Wing loading: 50kg/sqm

Performance - Max speed: 227km/h at 5,000m, Service ceiling: 8,280m, Endurance: 6hours

Armament: Two forward-firing fixed 7.7mm machine guns and twin flexible 7.7mm in dorsal position.  

Crew: 2    

Mitsubishi 2MR4

Only a vintage photo today of a Type 10 Carrier Reconnaissance aircraft or Mitsubishi 2MR4 belonging to the Yokosuka Kokutai. I can make out a Yokosho K2Y trainer on the right with "ヨ-415" (YO-415) in the background on the right but not sure about the other type on the left.
Wikipedia has a nice short article about the 2MR, HERE.

Border incident

Captain Ishiki Akira was a member of the weather department in the headquarters of the 2nd Air Army in Manchukuo. One day in February 1942, the Special Operations Office of the Army called capt Ishiki, pilots and observers to participate on a very special training flight. The mission called for two Type 100 Command Reconnaissance or Mitsubishi Ki-46 "Dinah" to fly over Vladivostok and Lake Khanka and take photos of the enemy positions and seaside roads. The two aircraft were to have their hinomaru and every other identification marking removed as well as all armament and unecessary equipment. The crew were to have their rank insignia also removed and to be extra careful under no circumstances to make an emergency landing inside Russian territory. If they were spotted by enemy fighters they should escape with maximum speed and if they were shot they should try to fall in the Sea of Japan. Capt Ishiki was quite surprised since this was his first such mission but asking around found out that such flights were done 2-3 times a year. His job as a meteorologist was to let the pilots know of a day with nice weather suitable for the flight. The altitude was to be between 9,000-10,000 meters to avoid the aircraft being detected. But photography from this high altitude required perfectly clear skies from any clouds that would obstruct the view. Another consideration was the fires set by farmers that created huge billows of smoke, therefore the flight was to take place before noon. Special German Zeiss cameras were carried by the planes and the intelligence department took extra care to receive the weather forecast from the Russian side, which was easy to decipher.
Capt Ishiki left the headquarters in Changchun for Dunhua, the base of the aircraft, and stayed there for a week until the weather was finally perfect for the mission. During that time the planes and their crew were on stand-by and when Ishiki gave the go ahead they rushed to their mission. The Soviet border was too close from Dunhua so "Dinah" number #1 had to fly back to Changchun to reach the altitude of 9,000meters. "Dinah" number #2 tried to cross the border from lake Khanka but when both aircraft were near the border they noticed that they were leaving massive contrails behind them that could be spotted from the ground. So "Dinah" #2 abandoned the effort while #1 continued hopping that the contrails would not be noticed.
Near  Vladivostok "Dinah" #1 started taking photos of the enemy lines when pilot captain Sato ordered his observer to put on his oxygen mask. "Why? What happened? Are we to fly higher?" asked the observer. "Look down" replied Sato and two Soviet I-16 were fast climbing to intercept them. The Japanese crew had two options, either to escape back to Manchukuo or towards the Sea of Japan. They chose the second and just when the I-16 were about 300meters behind them, they broke the engagement leaving "Dinah" alone to make a big semicircle and re-enter Japanese air space in Chongjin in (North) Korea. Flying at an altitude of 3,000meters the plane was quickly spotted by the ground forces setting off the alarm about an aircraft without any markings but only briefly.
Later it was discovered that it was air defence day in Vladivostok and perhaps the Soviet aircraft didn't carry ammunition. Russian diplomatic protests were expected for this border incident but none was placed perhaps because Soviet aircraft also regularly performed similar missions especially over Dalian.

Source: "Maru" November 1976, issue #363

Japanese X-plane Library #4

Title: "Rikukaigun Shisaku Sentoki" (Army/Navy Experimental Fighters)
Author: Komine Bunzo, Kunimoto Yasufumi, Tanaka Kazuo, Ibukuro Toyohiko
Published by: Gakken 2001 p/b, out-of-print
Pages: 182, Size: 18X26cm, Photos: 132 of which 26 in colour, CG Illustrations: 24 in colour.

An excellent publication by Gakken with plenty of very realistic and inspiring CG illustrations by Hosaka Muneo and a good collection of high quality photos of four types: Mitsubishi "Reppu, Kyushu J7W1 "Shinden", Mitsubishi Ki-83 & Tachikawa Ki-94. Includes manual drawings of the four as well as super detailed "Shiden" interior illustration fold-out and multi-view drawings of all four  aircraft in 1/100.  

The book is all in Japanese and highly recommended to all Japanese X-plane fans.
A small number is now available through our on-line shop for $US30. Send us an email if interested.

Kawanishi H8K "Emily" Type 2 Flying Boat

A Type 2 Flying Boat or Kawanishi H8K "Emily" is featured in this NARA photo. According to the caption dated 2, July 1944:
"Japanese "Emily" shot down by a PB4Y piloted by Lt. Stoughton Atwood of VB-115 somewhere in the Central Pacific."
It is a late Model 12 equipped with Type 3 Ku Mk.6 ASV radar as can be attested by the antennae on the nose. The radar was the first IJNAF type for large aircraft and could detect a ship from a height of 4,000m at a distance of 280km. Note that the fuselage side blister has been replaced by a window.

The particular flying boat belonged to the 851 Kokutai. Originally called "Toko Kokutai" from the Japanese reading of the Chinese name of it's base, Donggang in Taiwan, the unit changed it's designation to 851Ku on November 1, 1942 and was equipped with 16 Type 97 Flying Boats or Kawanishi H6K "Mavis". Initially deployed in Rabaul from where they night bombed the US base in the Espiritu Santo Island, the unit moved to the Shortland_Islands in the beginning of 1943. Returned to its home base in Taiwan to recuperate and then deployed to Surabaya in Jawa in April 1943 and stayed in the area until February 1944. During that time the unit performed patrol missions in the Indian Ocean and bombed targets in West Australia. By March 1943 the unit had changed all its flying boats to Kawanishi H8K "Emily".
On March 31, 1944 the most famous tragic event involving flying boats of the unit took place. Two "Emilies" were to transport Admiral Koga Mineichi who had succeeded Yamamoto Isoroku as Commander in Chief of the Combined Fleet, from Palau to Davao but they encountered a typhoon and the admiral's "Emily" was lost.
The unit eventually moved the Davao and on July 1944 to Singapore where it was dissolved with members and material distributed to the 801Ku and other units.
851Ku had the letter O for its marking from November 1942~1943 and then the numbers 51 or 851 from end of 1943~1944.

Gasuden Koken-ki #7

The last posting in this series is about the brilliant Koken-ki replica in the MISAWA AVIATION & SCIENCE MUSEUM, AOMORI.
The project started in 1998, five years before the museum opened. The main parties involved were glider company Maeda Koken in the technical details, the "Sanai Senpaku Sekkei" ship design and building company who were mostly responsible with the building of the project with Mizushima Eiji overall project manager and head of Model Art Ida Hiroshi.

The engine on display is the original 700-715hp Kawasaki 12-cylinder V water-cooled installed on the aircraft. 

And before closing one small addition regarding the black and white markings on the fuselage and wings of the plane. These were applied in order to help in the calculation of the take-off and landing speed, distance, angle etc. In September 1937 six of them were applied on both sides of the fuselage front, middle and rear. During the May 1938 record flight the plane had only two on the middle and rear of the fuselage starboard side. The plane carried black/white markings on the wing edges from the beginning until July 1938 when all of them were removed for unknown reasons.   

Gasuden Koken-ki #6

Japanese modeller "Avion Road" sent us photos of his very nice Koken-ki model.

The model is in 1:72 and the kit is the resin released in the '90s by "Mechadoll". Not easy to find any more.

The only other more accessible kit was released by PLATZ a few years ago. But the price 14,000Yen ($US155) is certainly a bit steep.

Gasuden Koken-ki #5

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Title: "Koken-ki" -  (Koken long range mono-plane)
Author: Tomizuka KiyoshiPublished by: Miki Press pbs, 1996 h/b
Pages: 212, Size: 21X14.5cm, Photos: 61 b/w, Illustrations: 6
Price: 2000 Yen, IN PRINT

Title: "Shashinshu Koken-ki" -  Long range flight test plane
Author: Various
Published by: Seirinsha pbs, 2003 p/b
Pages: 163, Size: 21X30cm,
Price: 3150 Yen Out-of-print

Gasuden Koken-ki #4

There are three Koken-ki clips on YouTube.

Uploaded by the son of Yamamoto Mineo, one of the key members of the Koken Project. Visit his site: HERE
There is also the brilliant artwork by artist Koike Sigeo featured in this very informative site: HERE & HERE.

(If the artist feels uncomfortable having his artwork featured on our blog,
it only takes an email and we'll remove it immediately)

And one more vintage ad featuring the Koken-ki.

NITTO KOCHA
(Nitto Black Tea)
A pure domestic product shining all over the world! The giant eagle and Nitto black tea are the symbols of the remarkable progress of Japan.
New product, available from: Mitsui Busan KK, Nitto Takushoku Norin KK.
The tea is still available today, here.

In 1939 a 12 sen stamp was released commemorating the flight.  

Gasuden Koken-ki #3

On the morning of May 13, 1938, at 04:55, Koken-ki took off from the Naval air base in Kisarazu to begin the record breaking flight. The crew members were all IJAAF officers and served with Army Air Technical Research Institute in Tachikawa. Major Fujita Yuzo was the pilot, Master Sergeant Takahashi Fukujiro was his co-pilot and Sekine Chikaichi was flight engineer.

Major Fujita Yuzo was born on February 19, 1898 in Hirosaki (don't be taken aback by the city's flag!), Aomori pref. In 1921 graduated from the Army's Officer School with the rank of 2nd Ltd with the artillery. Five years later became pilot instructor in the Tokorozawa Army School and although he suffered from astigmatism he overcame this physical impediment becoming chutai-cho with the 5th Rentai in 1932 and then with the 10th Rentai. A veteran of the Manchurian Incident joint the Research Institute in Tachikawa in 1934. A year later test flew a Kawasaki KDA-2 Reconnaissance fitted with skis over Aomori.
Iinuma Masaaki was to become co-pilot for the Koken-ki flight but he was too busy and famous with the Kamikaze-go flight. Instead Master Sergeant Takahashi Fukujiro, a student of Fujita in the Tokorozawa school and a sub-instructor of the Akeno fighter school at the time was chosen by Fujita to become his co-pilot.

Nine months after the record breaking flight Fujita and Takahashi were on their way to the China front to instruct Army pilots the technical details of very long distance flights. Their aircraft was a Br.20 which took off from Kagamigahara on January 31, 1939 aiming to reach Hankou in China on a 3,000km non-stop flight. Unfortunately they run into bad weather and dense fog and overun their target by about 170km where they run out of fuel and had to make an emergency landing. The details of the fate of the two and the five other crew members are not exactly known since there were no official reports but according to rumours Fujita and Takahashi committed suicide after they got off the plane and were surrounded by Chinese troops.
Their funeral was held on June 14, 1939 at Tachikawa airfield. On that day the Koken-ki took off from Haneda and flew over Tachikawa with Iinuma in the controls.
Sekine survived the war and lived a long life.

Major Fujita Yuzo and Master Sergeant Takahashi Fukujiro in front of the Koken-ki. 

Major Fujita Yuzo (left), flight engineer Sekine Chikaichi (middle) and Master Sergeant Takahashi Fukujiro right before taking off for the historical flight.

All three (from left: Chikaichi, Takahashi, Fujita) were decorated on May 25 with the Japanese medal Yokosho, of exceptional accomplishments.

And finally two more close-up photos of the Koken-ki.