Kamikaze (1937 aircraft)

Kamikaze (1937 aircraft)

The Kamikaze was a Mitsubishi Karigane aircraft (registration J-BAAI) sponsored by the newspaper Asahi Shimbun, which became famous on April 9, 1937, when it arrived at Croydon Airport in London. It was the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe. The flight from Tachikawa Airfield in Tokyo to London took 51 hours, 17 minutes and 23 seconds and was piloted by Masaaki Iinuma, with Kenji Tsukagoshi serving as navigator. The aircraft flew from Tokyo via Taihoku (now, Taipei, Taiwan, then a part of Japanese Empire) to French Indochina, then via India and the Middle East to Europe.

The arrival of the "Kamikaze" caused a sensation in the Western world. Several years earlier, a prize had been offered for the first flight between Paris and Tokyo in less than 100 hours. Many European aviators had failed at this challenge, and one year before the flight of the "Kamikaze", a French pilot attempting the challenge was killed when his aircraft crashed into a mountain on Kyūshū.

Japanese aircraft designers had made maximizing the range of their aircraft a high priority, in order to link Japan proper with its possessions in Taiwan, Korea, Manchuria and Micronesia, and also with a view to developing military aircraft for future conflicts in China and over the Pacific Ocean—war theatres which offered few airfields for aircraft to refuel.

"Kamikaze"'s pilot, Masaaki Iinuma, was later killed in action in the Pacific War in December 1941. He was 29 years old.

External links

* [http://www.shinko-elec.co.jp/eng/techlink/square_kami.htm SQUARE-The Famous Kamikaze-go and Shinko Electric]
* [http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/portland/971/Reviews/japanese/ki-15-babs.htm Model kit of "Kamikaze"]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Kamikaze (disambiguation) — In English, kamikaze refers to suicide attacks carried out by Imperial Japan s military aviators against Allied shipping towards the end of the Pacific campaign of World War II by crashing their planes into warships.Kamikaze also refers to: *… …   Wikipedia

  • Kamikaze — Para otros usos de este término, véase Kamikaze (desambiguación). El …   Wikipedia Español

  • 1937 — This article is about the year 1937. Millennium: 2nd millennium Centuries: 19th century – 20th century – 21st century Decades: 1900s  1910s  1920s  – 1930s –  1940s   …   Wikipedia

  • 1937 in aviation — yearbox in?=in aviation cp=19th Century c=20th century cf=21st century yp1=1934 yp2=1935 yp3=1936 year=1937 ya1=1938 ya2=1939 ya3=1940 dp3=1900s dp2=1910s dp1=1920s d=1930s dn1=1940s dn2=1950s dn3=1960sThis is a list of aviation related events… …   Wikipedia

  • military aircraft — Introduction       any type of aircraft that has been adapted for military use.       Aircraft have been a fundamental part of military power since the mid 20th century. Generally speaking, all military aircraft fall into one of the following… …   Universalium

  • List of aircraft carriers — The list of aircraft carriers contains all aircraft carriers listed alphabetically by name.Those listed in Bold are currently in active service.For listings by other methods, see:* List of aircraft carriers by country * List of aircraft carriers… …   Wikipedia

  • Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūhō — The nihongo| Ryūhō |龍鳳, Dragon phoenix or Chinese commander 臥龍 and 鳳雛 from Three Kingdoms was a Japanese naval vessel which started life as the submarine depot ship Taigei , and was taken out of service in December 1941 for conversion into a… …   Wikipedia

  • Japanese military aircraft designation systems — Japanese military aircraft, especially of Japan s Imperial (pre 1945) period, are rather difficult to keep track of by their Japanese designations, primarily because multiple designation systems were in use by each armed service. This is what led …   Wikipedia

  • Yorktown class aircraft carrier — The Yorktown class aircraft carriers consisted of three carriers built by the U.S. and completed shortly before World War II. They bore the brunt of early action in that war, and the sole survivor of the class was to become the most decorated… …   Wikipedia

  • Mitsubishi Ki-15 — Ki 15 Babs Mitsubishi Ki 15 I (Army Type 97 Command Reconnaissance Plane) Role Military reconnaissance aircraft, light bomber …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”