Yokosuka (Kugisho) MXY1 & MXY2 Experimental Test Planes

[javierarg]

Gentlemen, good afternoon, from South America.
Someone can give me more data about this aircraft
Experimental?
Listed as Kugisho or Yokosuka. It`s similar a the german "storch" (for my), but with a radial engine and wing profile much wider.

Thanks, folks.
The data that I have are the No. 2 volume of Encyclopedia of Japanese Aircraft 1900-1945

I've been told I can find information about this plane in the following book:

Title of the book = Nippon koukuki daizukan (Japan aircraft large illustrated book),
Publishing company = Kokushokankoukai (Japanese book publication society),
Website of the publishing company
http://www.kokusho.co.jp/np/isbn/9784336033468
anyone knows this book and where I can locate it? there are three views of MXY1!

 

[Stargazer]

Javier, you would have been better off just trusting the name of the file: it says "Yokosuka MXY1" and that's exactly what it is!!!

Here are two pics (the second being a better version of yours) scanned from Japanese Military Aircraft Illustrated.

 

[Stargazer]

Further investigation shows the MXY1 to have been a 1939 five-seater experimental prototype (+ one empty seat) used to gather instrumentation data. There is indeed a confusion over the company's name, as other sources give the whole MXY series as being Kugisho aircraft, while the literal translation of the company's name reads: "Sky Tech Mitsubishi"... :-[

 

[javierarg]

That fast response! thanks for the pictures and information
You will have the three views? (if you had more technical details would be great)
thanks
JAvier

 

[Arjen]

Listed as Kugisho or Yokosuka.

The Japanese Naval Air Arsenal was known by various names during its existence.

This is from 'Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941' by Robert Mikesh & Shorzoe Abe, Putnam

The aircraft construction facility at Yokosuka has a very complicated background that goes back to the establishment of a Naval arsenal for the Imperial Japanese Navy in late 1869.This arsenal at Yokosuka, 13 miles south of Yokohama on Tokyo Bay, was established as the focal point for Naval shipbuilding, ship repairs, storage of munitions and the procurement of assorted naval supplies. When the first aeroplanes such as the Maurice Farmans and Curtiss types were imported by the Navy they were processed through this facility. They had to be assembled and periodically repaired, which logically led to modifications of existing designs, the building of new aeroplanes patterned on the old, and eventually creating and building new designs. To facilitate this work, the Aeroplane Factory, Ordnance Department, was formed at the torpedo plant of the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal in May 1913. There were no civil aircraft firms in Japan at that time to call upon for this type of work. It was during the following year, 1914, that the first acronym used in conjunction with Navy-built aircraft was formed, Yokosho, meaning Yokosuka Kaigun Ko-sho (Yokosuka Naval Arsenal).

Mikesh & Abe mention:
- the establishment of other research facilities between 1908 and 1923
- a September 1, 1923 earthquake which destroyed the various Navy research facilities at Tsukiji
- the establishment of Naval Air Headquarters on April 1, 1927
- the establishment of Kaigun Kokusho (Naval Air Arsenal) on April 1, 1932

From the same book:

Starting date Name Acronym
1 April, 1932 Kaigun Koku-sho (Naval Air Arsenal) Kusho
1 April, 1939 Kaigun Koku-Gijutsu-sho (Naval Technical Air Arsenal) Kugisho
15 February, 1945 Dai-Ichi Kaigun Gijutsu-sho (1st Naval Technical Arsenal) Ichi-Gisho

On the subject of the Yokosuka MXY1 itself, Mikesh & Abe have this to say:

Experimental Research Aircraft (MXY1)

This aeroplane was purely a test vehicle to study new airborne systems and aerodynamic characteristics for the Aircraft Department of Kokusho. The design started in 1937 and carried the unusual designation MXY1, meaning Special Purpose (M), Experimental (X), by Yokosho (Y), first model (1). Although the Y designator was used, it was actually designed and built by Watanabe at the request of Yokosho, and by existing standards, should have been designated W for Watanabe. This was a parasol-wing monoplane, configured very much like the Parnall Parasol that had been developed for the same flight-test purposes. (see Watanabe Experimental Research Aircraft MXY1).

Mikesh & Abe on the Watanabe MXY1:

Experimental Research Aircraft (MXY1 and 2)

In 1935 the Naval Air Headquarters Engineering Department established guidance for new aircraft projects and placed the responsibility for various test functions upon the Aeroplane Department of Kusho. As a result a flight-test vehicle was designed and built exclusively for aerodynamic research and testing. This unusual angular parasol monoplane was designed and built at the Watanabe Iron Works, under the designer direction of Shigeki Naito, supervised for the Navy by Naval Engineer Jun-ichiro Nagahata. Design work began in November 1937 and lasted until the following July. The first of two aeroplanes was completed in September 1939.
This strut-braced parasol-monoplane was based upon the British Parnall Parasol; features for the wing angle of incidence and tailplane settings for different test measurements found on the Parnall were incorporated into the Watanabe aeroplane. Many types of aerodynamic test equipment were installed in the fuselage of this flying laboratory that was, for some odd reason, known as the 'Glasgow Test Plane' by the people in charge of the project. There was provision for a pilot and a test crew of four.
This aeroplane was plagued by severe vibration during ground run-ups, thought to be too severe to go uncorrected before test flying. Modifications were made but to no avail, and further development was suspended. A second, and different, aeroplane followed, known as the Experimental Research Aircraft No.2 and officially designated XXY2 (later MXY2) but work was terminated after the structural strength tests had been completed.
These were the first Japanese aeroplanes designed exclusively for research, yet little has been recorded about them. Too much time was consumed on design and construction and, as a consequence, they were not developed sufficiently to serve the purpose intended for them and were considered obsolete by the time the first was completed. They were dismantled and their components were used for research purposes.

Single-engined strut-braced parasol-monoplane with non-retractable undercarriage. Wood and metal construction with fabric covering. Pilot and four technicians in enclosed cockpits.
670-730hp Nakajima Hikari 1 nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, driving a ground-adjustable two-bladed propeller.

Kugisho/Yokosuka/Watanabe MXY1. Take your pick

 

[Stargazer]

Thanks a lot Arjen!!

 

[Arjen]

I became acutely aware of the many names of the Yokosuka facility when I was digging for information in the B3N1/B4N1-confusion (on which I'm still confused). Sharing the information seemed a good idea after having the occasional WTF-moment. Happy to oblige.

 

[Stargazer]

B3N and B4N may be related in the same way that MXY1 and MXY2 were. I still haven't found any photo or valuable piece of information on the B3N, by the way...

 

[blackkite]

Hi Star! You are really outstanding,too.

 

[Stargazer]

An addendum to what we said about the MXY1 can be found in this pretty little plastic model found on the web. Please note that once again the aircraft is associated to Mitsubishi in the title, not Yokosho/Yokosuka/Kugisho.

空技廠　実験用飛行機 = Mitsubishi Aircraft Technical Laboratory

Source: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/tsmc/net/work-3.html

 

[blackkite]

Kugisho(空技廠) planned MXY1 as a various wing shape test plane, ordered Watanabe Tekkojo（渡辺鉄工所 or 渡辺鐵工所）(Watanabe Steel Foundry=Kyushu Hikoki（九州飛行機）) to design and fabrication.
But It's difficult to fly,because engine vibration was very hard.
Engine:Nakajima Hikari(光) air cooling radial 9 cylinders, 600hp
Crew:5
Number of production:1

http://military.sakura.ne.jp/ac/mxy1.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyushu_Hikoki