The Hiro H1H (or Navy Type 15) was a 1920s

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese bomber or reconnaissance

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

flying boat developed from the

Felixstowe F.5 The Felixstowe F.5 was a British First World War flying boat designed by Lieutenant Commander John Cyril Porte RN of the Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe. Design and development Porte designed a better hull for the larger Curtiss H-12 ...

by the

Hiro Naval Arsenal The Hiro Naval Arsenal (''Hiro Kaigun Kōshō'' or ''Dai-Jūichi Kaigun Kōkū-shō'' (11th Naval Arsenal), often abbreviated as ''Hiroshō'') at Kure (呉), Hiroshima prefecture, was a production facility for seaplanes, flying boats, and aero engi ...

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

. The aircraft were built by Hiro, the

Yokosuka Naval Arsenal was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and was located at Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture on Tokyo Bay, south of Yokohama. History In 1866, the Tokugawa shogunate government established the ...

and

Aichi is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectu ...

Design and development

Following licensed production of the Felixstowe F.5 for the Imperial Japanese Navy the company developed an improved version known as the H1H or Navy Type 15. The aircraft was built with three different engine types fitted, the Navy Type 15-I with a wooden hull had longer span upper wings and the Navy Type 15-II had four-bladed propellers. The H1H remained in front line naval service through the 1930s.

Variants

;H1H1 :Variant powered by two 450hp (336kW) Lorraine W-12 engines. ;H1H2 :Variant powered by either two 450hp (336kW) Lorraine W-12 or two 500hp (373kW)

BMW VII __NOTOC__ The BMW VII was a water-cooled twelve-cylinder engine derived from the successful BMW VI. The engine was not as popular as the VI, due in no small part to the Great Depression, and only a small number were built. Experiments with super ...

engines. ;H1H3 :Variant powered by two 450hp (336kW) Lorraine W-12 engines.

Operators

; *

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service The was the Naval aviation, air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War. The Japanese military acquired their first air ...

Specifications (H1H1)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{Japanese Navy short aircraft designations 1920s Japanese patrol aircraft H1H Flying boats Biplanes Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1925