The Kyūshū Q1W ''Tōkai'' (東海 "Eastern Sea") was a land-based,

anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapon ...

patrol bomber aircraft developed for the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

in World War II. The Allied reporting name was Lorna. Although similar in appearance to the German

Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a twin-engined multirole combat aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works. It was used extensively during the Second World War by the ''Luftwaffe'' and became one o ...

medium bomber, the Q1W was a much smaller aircraft with significantly different design details.

Design and development

Kyushu Q1W Tokai maritime reconnaissance aircraft

The Imperial Japanese Navy ordered development of the Kyūshū Q1W as the Navy Experimental 17-Shi Patrol Plane in September

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

, and the first test flight took place in September

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

. It entered service in January

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

. The Q1W carried two, low-power engines, allowing for long periods of low-speed flight. In same period, Kyūshū built the K11W1 Shiragiku, a bomber training plane (also used in

Kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

strikes) and the Q3W1 Nankai (''South Sea''), a specialized antisubmarine version of the K11W. The latter was of all-wood construction and was destroyed during a landing accident on its first flight. Another specific anti-submarine airplane was the

Mitsubishi Q2M The Mitsubishi Q2M "''Tai'yō''" (大洋, ''Great Sea'') design was derived from the Mitsubishi Ki-67-I ''Hiryū'' ("Peggy") heavy/torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torped ...

1 "Taiyō", which was derived from

Mitsubishi Ki-67 The Mitsubishi Ki-67 ''Hiryū'' (飛龍, "Flying Dragon"; Allied World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft, reporting name "Peggy") was a twin-engine bomber produced by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company and used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air S ...

Hiryū "Peggy" torpedo-bomber, but this did not progress beyond the preliminary design stage.

Variants

* Q1W1: one prototype. * Q1W1 ''Tokai'' Model 11: main production model. * Q1W2 ''Tokai'' Model 21: version with tail surfaces in wood, built in small numbers. * Q1W1-K Tokai-Ren (''Eastern Sea-Trainer''): trainer with capacity for four, all-wood construction. One prototype built.

Specifications (Q1W1)

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links