The Yokosuka E14Y ( Allied reporting name Glen) was an

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, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

reconnaissance seaplane transported aboard and launched from Japanese

submarine aircraft carrier A submarine aircraft carrier is a submarine equipped with aircraft for observation or attack missions. These submarines saw their most extensive use during World War II, although their operational significance remained rather small. The most fam ...

s such as the during

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 ...

. The Japanese Navy designation was "Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane" (零式小型水上偵察機).

Design and development

Operational history

The E14Y was used for several Japanese

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops ( skirmishe ...

missions during the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vas ...

. On 26 February 1942 the Japanese submarine ''I-25'', under the command of Captain Akiji Tagami, was off the northern tip of King Island in

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island states and territories of Australia, state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Bo ...

off the coast of

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in ...

, when an E14Y was launched on a reconnaissance flight over the

Port of Melbourne The Port of Melbourne is the largest port for containerised and general cargo in Australia. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria, and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at the head of Port Ph ...

. The pilot and observer/gunner were in the air for three hours, during which time they successfully flew over

Port Phillip Bay Port Phillip ( Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is compl ...

and observed the ships at anchor off Melbourne before returning to land on its floats beside the submarine, where it was winched aboard and disassembled. The E14Y is the only Japanese aircraft to overfly

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

during World War II (and only the second enemy aircraft after the German

Friedrichshafen FF.33 Friedrichshafen FF.33 was a German single-engined reconnaissance three-bay wing structure biplane, using twin floats, designed by Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen in 1914 for the ''Marine-Fliegerabteilung'' aviation forces of the ''Kaiserliche Mar ...

'Wölfchen' during World War I). On 8 March 1942 Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita photographed the Allied build-up in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

harbour in a "Glen" launched from the Japanese submarine ''I-25''. On 13 March he flew over

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, before the ''I-25'' proceeded to Australia. On the night of 24/25 May Warrant Officer Susumo Ito flew a "Glen" over Auckland from the Japanese submarine ''I-21''. Just days later, in the same aircraft, Ito flew the reconnaissance flight preceding the sole Japanese

attack on Sydney Harbour In late May and early June 1942, during World War II, Imperial Japanese Navy submarines made a series of attacks on the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle. On the night of 31 May – 1 June, three ''Ko-hyoteki''-class midget submarin ...

in which 21 seamen were killed when sank on 1 June 1942.

Type A1 submarine The , also called were a trio of aircraft-carrying cruiser submarines built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the 1930s. All three participated in the Pacific War and were lost. Design and description The submarines of the A1 type were ...

''I-9'' was caught off the New Zealand coast in early 1943; however, no Japanese aircraft was observed, and any records of overflights were lost when the submarine was sunk. The E14Y also has the distinction of being the only submarine-based aircraft to drop

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

s on the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

during World War II, in an incident known as The Lookout Air Raid. On 9 September 1942 ,

Chief Warrant Officer Chief warrant officer is a military rank used by the United States Armed Forces, the Canadian Armed Forces, the Pakistan Air Force, the Israel Defense Forces, the South African National Defence Force, the Lebanese Armed Forces and, since 2012, th ...

Nobuo Fujita, a pilot in the Japanese Imperial Navy, and his crewman,

Petty Officer A petty officer (PO) is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotation OR-5 or OR-6. In many nations, they are typically equal to a sergeant in comparison to other military branches. Often they may be super ...

Shoji Okuda, surfaced in submarine ''I-25'' off the coast of Oregon near Brookings. The seaplane had

folding wing A folding wing is a wing configuration design feature of aircraft to save space and is typical of carrier-based aircraft that operate from the limited deck space of aircraft carriers. The folding allows the aircraft to occupy less space in a con ...

s and was transported in a watertight capsule attached to the deck of the submarine. The bombs – 76 kg (168 lb)

incendiaries Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, th ...

intended to cause forest fires – caused no injuries or real damage. E14Y Type 0 Reconnaissance Seaplane Glen E14Y-2

A total of 126"Surviving Glens Discovered at Kwajalein." ''Aviation History,'' November 2008. E14Ys were produced.

Surviving aircraft

''Aviation History'' magazine reported in the November 2008 issue that divers had found airplane parts in the ''Akibasan Maru'' wreck, a Japanese cargo ship sunk in the

Kwajalein Atoll Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilia ...

on 20 January 1944, and rediscovered in 1965. The parts (including wings and floats) have been finally identified (April 2008) as belonging to two E14Y1 "Glen"

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, m ...

s, through the use of photographs from the wreck and comparisons with original technical drawings and a captured technical manual.

Specifications (E14Y)

E14Y Type 0 Reconnaissance Seaplane Glen E14Y-11s

References

Notes

Bibliography

* . * Green, William. ''War Planes of the Second World War, Volume Six: Floatplanes''. London: Macdonald & Co (Publishers), 1962. * Ishiguro, Ryusuke and Tadeusz Januszewski. ''Kugisho E14Y "Glen"''. Sandomierz, Poland/Redbourn, UK: MMP Books, 2010. . * Jackson, Robert. ''The Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft''. Bath, UK: Parragon Books, 2006. . * Januszewski, Tadeusz. ''Japanese Submarine Aircraft''. Sandomierz, Poland/Redbourn, UK: Mushroom Model Publications, 2002. . * * * Thorpe, Donald W. ''Japanese Naval Air Force Camouflage and Markings World War II''. Fallbrook, California: Aero Publishers, 1977. .

External links

Yokosuka E14Y Allied Code Name: "Glen"
– ''www.combinedfleet.com''

– ''Pacific Wrecks'' {{Allied reporting names Floatplanes E14Y, Yokosuka E14Y E14Y, Yokosuka Submarine-borne aircraft Low-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1939