(1901–1990) was a Japanese aircraft designer who worked for Mitsubishi and designed aircraft used in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

such as the

Mitsubishi G3M The was a Japanese bomber and transport aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) during World War II. The Yokosuka L3Y (Allied reporting name "Tina"), was a transport variant of the aircraft manufactured by the Yokosu ...

(Nell) and the

Mitsubishi G4M The Mitsubishi G4M was a twin-engine, land-based medium bomber formerly manufactured by the Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. Its official designat ...

(Betty). During the American occupation of Japan following the end of

, Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi, were banned from producing aircraft. For this reason, Honjo began work on non-aircraft products for civilian use. For example, he designed the Mitsubishi “Cross” bicycle (jujigo), which was made of surplus duralumin left over from wartime aircraft production. Honjo also designed the winning glider used by Oka Ryoki in 1977 in the first Japan International

Birdman Rally Birdman Rally is a competition where members of the public build home-made gliders, hang gliders and human-powered aircraft, ranging from very serious aircraft to mere costumes, leap from a river– or sea–side jetty, or from a bridge, and com ...

. On April 21, 1990, Honjo died at the age of 88 from prostate cancer. He was portrayed in the 2013 Japanese animated movie ''

The Wind Rises is a 2013 Japanese animated historical drama film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi, Toho and KDDI. It was rele ...

'' as a colleague of the designer of the Zero fighter,

Jiro Horikoshi was the chief engineer of many Japanese fighter designs of World War II, including the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter. Early life Jiro Horikoshi was born near the city of Fujioka, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, in 1903. Horikoshi graduated from the new ...

, going back to their days at Tokyo Imperial University. In reality, however, Honjo was senior to Horikoshi.

References

Japanese aerospace engineers {{japan-engineer-stub