3/4765
Size 16 mm.
Size 16 mm.
Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal /海軍航空技術廠, Kaigun Kōkū Gijutsu-shō, lit. Naval Air Technical Arsenal/ was an organization under the jurisdiction of the Yokosuka Naval District. It was established by integrating the Aviation Research Department of the Naval Technical Research Institute, which was conducting aircraft research , and the Aircraft Experimental Department and Aircraft Engine Experimental Department of the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal . It was responsible for the design and testing of Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft, as well as the research, investigation, and inspection of aircraft and their materials .
The air arsenal's roots go back to 1869 when the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) established a naval arsenal at Yokosuka, about 13 miles south of Yokohama on Tokyo Bay. The arsenal provided ship building, repair and replenishment to the Japanese Navy. It was also a storage depot where munitions and other assorted supplies were brought as they were purchased.
When a number of foreign aircraft were purchased for evaluation, the Navy brought them to the arsenal for processing. The arsenal assembled the aircraft from their shipping boxes, and when assembled, they were flown by the pilots who had been sent abroad for flying lessons and evaluate the aircraft flown.
Modifications to these aircraft were done as weaknesses were found, or when an improvement was incorporated. To facilitate this work, the IJN established the Aeroplane Factory, Ordnance Department at the arsenal's torpedo factory in May 1913.
The next year, the first acronym was used was Yokosho, a contraction of Yokosuka Kaigun Kōshō (Yokosuka Naval Arsenal). The arsenal was renamed Kaigun Kōkū Shiken-sho (Naval Establishment for Aeronautical Research) in December 1919. The name Kaigun Gijutsu Kenkyūsho (Naval Technical Research Institute) was assigned by April, 1923, when the arsenal was moved to Tsukiji with several other Naval support units. The entire Tsukiji facility was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. Several names were used when the navy began establishment of the arsenal. Research was started again in 1924 when several aircraft were evaluated. Under the command of the newly formed Naval Air Headquarters, the Kaigun Kokusho (Naval Air Arsenal) was formed at Yokosuka on 1 April 1932. A large amount of draftsmen and Designers were transferred from the Hiro Naval Arsenal, ending aircraft production there.
During World War II, the arsenal was responsible for the design of several IJN aircraft, although the arsenal itself did not manufacture more than a few prototypes of the aircraft it designed. Its designs were mass-produced by companies such as Aichi Kokuki, Watanabe Tekkōjo steel foundry, (renamed in 1943 to Kyūshū Hikōki Kabushiki-kaisha (九州飛行機株式会社, Kyushu Aircraft Company Ltd, a.k.a. Kyushu Armaments) ), and the Hiro Naval Arsenal (Hiro Kaigun Kōshō, which is often abbreviated as Hirosho).
The air arsenal's roots go back to 1869 when the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) established a naval arsenal at Yokosuka, about 13 miles south of Yokohama on Tokyo Bay. The arsenal provided ship building, repair and replenishment to the Japanese Navy. It was also a storage depot where munitions and other assorted supplies were brought as they were purchased.
When a number of foreign aircraft were purchased for evaluation, the Navy brought them to the arsenal for processing. The arsenal assembled the aircraft from their shipping boxes, and when assembled, they were flown by the pilots who had been sent abroad for flying lessons and evaluate the aircraft flown.
Modifications to these aircraft were done as weaknesses were found, or when an improvement was incorporated. To facilitate this work, the IJN established the Aeroplane Factory, Ordnance Department at the arsenal's torpedo factory in May 1913.
The next year, the first acronym was used was Yokosho, a contraction of Yokosuka Kaigun Kōshō (Yokosuka Naval Arsenal). The arsenal was renamed Kaigun Kōkū Shiken-sho (Naval Establishment for Aeronautical Research) in December 1919. The name Kaigun Gijutsu Kenkyūsho (Naval Technical Research Institute) was assigned by April, 1923, when the arsenal was moved to Tsukiji with several other Naval support units. The entire Tsukiji facility was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. Several names were used when the navy began establishment of the arsenal. Research was started again in 1924 when several aircraft were evaluated. Under the command of the newly formed Naval Air Headquarters, the Kaigun Kokusho (Naval Air Arsenal) was formed at Yokosuka on 1 April 1932. A large amount of draftsmen and Designers were transferred from the Hiro Naval Arsenal, ending aircraft production there.
During World War II, the arsenal was responsible for the design of several IJN aircraft, although the arsenal itself did not manufacture more than a few prototypes of the aircraft it designed. Its designs were mass-produced by companies such as Aichi Kokuki, Watanabe Tekkōjo steel foundry, (renamed in 1943 to Kyūshū Hikōki Kabushiki-kaisha (九州飛行機株式会社, Kyushu Aircraft Company Ltd, a.k.a. Kyushu Armaments) ), and the Hiro Naval Arsenal (Hiro Kaigun Kōshō, which is often abbreviated as Hirosho).