Tatsuo Hasegawa (長谷川龍雄, ''Hasegawa Tatsuo'', February 8, 1916 – April 29, 2008) was a Japanese automotive engineer, and known as the development chief of the first

Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has been one of the best-selling cars in ...

. He built the base of the

economy car Economy car is a term mostly used in the United States for cars designed for low-cost purchase and operation. Typical economy cars are small (compact or subcompact), lightweight, and inexpensive to both produce and purchase. Stringent design const ...

s in Japan through the development of the Corolla and the

Toyota Publica The is a small car manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota from 1961 until 1978. Conceived as a family car to fulfill the requirements of the Japanese Government's "national car concept", it was the smallest Toyota car during that period an ...

Early years

Tatsuo Hasegawa was born in Tottori,

Tottori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the least populous prefecture of Japan at 570,569 (2016) and has a geographic area of . Tottori Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to the west, Hiro ...

on February 8, 1916. After majoring in aerodynamics as a self-supporting student, he graduated from the Section of Aeronautics of the Faculty of Engineering at the

Tokyo Imperial University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

in 1939.

Tachikawa Ki-94

After graduating, Hasegawa joined Tachikawa Aircraft Corporation and was involved in the development of the

Tachikawa Ki-94 The Tachikawa Ki-94 was a single-seat fighter-Interceptor aircraft project undertaken by the Tachikawa Aircraft Company and to be operated by the Imperial Japanese Army. The project refers to two aircraft designs: the Ki-94-I and the Ki-94-II, ...

in 1943 as the chief designer. This high-altitude

interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are ...

was designed to intercept American

B-29 The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

bombers, and proposed to the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...

. Although one aircraft was completed in August 1945,

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

ended before the aircraft ever conducted its first flight. Before the start of development of the Ki-94, Hasegawa had designed an

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbin ...

based on his theory, and published a paper in the scholarly journal of the Japan Society for Aeronautical Sciences (now The Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences) in March, 1942. He named it "TH airfoil theory" after his name (Tatsuo Hasegawa). Hasegawa used the "TH airfoil" on the Ki-94. Hasegawa's theoretical airfoil was very similar to the ''

Supercritical airfoil A supercritical airfoil (supercritical aerofoil in British English) is an airfoil designed primarily to delay the onset of wave drag in the transonic speed range. Supercritical airfoils are characterized by their flattened upper surface, highly ...

'' theory that

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

would later develop in the 1960s. For this reason, when NASA lodged the patent application for their airfoil in Japan in 1979, their patent was not admitted to the agency.

Toyota

Hasegawa lost his job after the end of World War II because Japan was prohibited to manufacture aircraft under orders of the

General Headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

(GHQ) of General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was ...

. However, in 1946, Hasegawa was employed by

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

which was recruiting engineers at that time. After he joined Toyota, Hasegawa was involved in the development of the

Toyopet Crown The is an automobile which has been produced by Toyota in Japan since 1955. It is primarily a line of mid-size luxury cars that is marketed as an upmarket offering in the Toyota lineup. Introduced in 1955 as the Toyopet Crown, it has served ...

as the sub-chief (fuku-Shusa) of development under his chief (Shusa), Kenya Nakamura. During the development for the Crown, the ''Shusa'' (product manager) style of organization was introduced for the first time. It is believed that this system was developed from the ''Chief designer'' system of fighter development used during World War II. First Generation Toyota Corolla

Hasegawa later led the development of the first generation models of the

, Sports 800, Corolla, Celica and

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, as the chief (Shusa). He also was involved in the Toyopet SKB truck, the precursor of the Toyota Dyna He was promoted to the general manager of the product planning office and senior director, and retired from the automobile industry in 1982.

After Toyota

Hasegawa was a senior consultant to

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

, Delaware, between 1982 and 1988, where he advised them on their marketing strategy aimed at the automobile industry. The "Detroit Development Center" may be one of his contributions. After his work for DuPont, Hasegawa returned to Japan and concentrated on gardening with roses and cattleyas. On November 15, 2004, he was elected as one of 2004 inductees in the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame for the application of aerodynamic theory to automobile design, and for mainstream product planning and management in corporate environment. On April 29, 2008, Tatsuo Hasegawa died at the age of 92 in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

Kanagawa is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanagaw ...

References

External links

My Father Tatsuo Hasegawa (1916 - 2008)
- Tribute to Tatsuo Hasegawa by his son - Translocated to the new web host since old AOL hometown service was shut down on October 31, 2008 * Hasegawa, T. A comment on TH wing (Airfoil with a radius at the trailing edge). JJSASS (Journal of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences in Japanese), 1982:30 (Dec 1982); 704-714. (''3.1MB pdf.file is available at http://drhasegawa.sakura.ne.jp/tatsuo/jjsass1982.pdf'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Hasegawa, Tatsuo 1916 births 2008 deaths Japanese automotive engineers Japanese aerospace engineers Aircraft designers Toyota people People from Tottori Prefecture