(DOWNLOAD) "Racing Against Invasion: Engineering a Kamikaze "Cruise Missile"." by Air Power History ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Racing Against Invasion: Engineering a Kamikaze "Cruise Missile".
- Author : Air Power History
- Release Date : January 22, 2009
- Genre: Engineering,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 578 KB
Description
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the summer of 2007, I was a volunteer researcher at the Paul E. Garber Restoration Facility of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum (NASM), when a bomb-shaped aircraft featuring two cockpits was pulled out of storage for inspection on the hangar floor. Its unmistakable resemblance to the Imperial Japanese Navy's Ohka kamikaze aircraft piqued my interest. Curiously, the artifact bore an unusually brief description: "acquired from the Navy in 1974" and identified as "Kugisho MXY7-K2 Ohka 43B." I wondered why Japan would have built a two-seat trainer for kamikaze missions, especially since it already had used the single-seat MXY7-K1 trainer. And what did the 43B designation signify? Finding no satisfactory explanations on the Ohka in published English-language sources (1) or from experts like Robert Mikesh, former NASM senior curator and author of Japanese aircraft books, I set off on my own research. I dug into recently discovered Japanese writings as well as some rare wartime Kugisho and Aichi Aircraft engineering records found in NASM's special collection. My quest took me through the entire history of the kamikaze aircraft development from wartime demands to the deliberations, decisions, and design evolution by the Imperial Japanese Navy's Kugisho--the Air Technical Arsenal, equivalent to the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics--headquartered at Yokosuka naval base.