Kyūichirō Washizu (鷲津久一郎, ''Washizu Kyūichirō''; March 12, 1921 – November 25, 1981) was a Japanese aircraft engineer and academic. He served as professor of aeronautical engineering at the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

and professor of engineering science at the

Osaka University The , abbreviated as UOsaka or , is a List of national universities in Japan, national research university in Osaka, Japan. The university traces its roots back to Edo period, Edo-era institutions Tekijuku (1838) and Kaitokudō, Kaitokudo (1724), ...

. He led the performance-related design of the ''

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 ...

'' attack aircraft Yokosuka MXY-7 ''Ohka'' during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Life

Washizu was born in

Aichi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...

on March 12, 1921. After graduating from Ichinomiya High School, he entered the

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

, Faculty of Engineering. In 1957, he obtained PhD. in Engineering with his thesis "''Study on approximate solution methods in elastic mechanics''". As Captain Technical, Washizu took part in the design of the attack aircraft Yokosuka MXY-7 ''Ohka'' during World War II. He was in charge of performance-related design of the aircraft, and worked alongside Lieutenant Colonel Technical Masao Yamana, as design director; Toshikazu Kitayama, in charge of general design; Major Technical Rokurō Hattori, in charge of structure; and Takio Kitano, in charge of aerodynamics. During the design, the five confined themselves in one room at the

Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal had many names, each depending on the period of its existence, and the circumstances at that time. Many of the names were acronyms that were derived from its military name or designation, which changed from time to time. The arsenal was sometim ...

. He served as assistant professor and then as professor at the Department of Aeronautical Engineering, University of Tokyo. He also served as professor at the School of Engineering Science,

. His daughter Hiroko Washizu (born 1952) is a scholar of American literature and professor at the

University of Tsukuba is a List of national universities in Japan, national research university located in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Ibaraki, Japan. The university has 28 college clusters and schools with around 16,500 students (as of 2014). The main Tsukuba ca ...

. Washizu died on November 25, 1981.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyuichiro Washizu Japanese aerospace engineers 20th-century Japanese engineers 1921 births 1981 deaths People from Aichi Prefecture Academic staff of the University of Tokyo Academic staff of Osaka University University of Tokyo alumni

Life

See also

References