Yokosuka (Kugisho) MXY1 & MXY2 Experimental Test Planes

javierarg said:

Listed as Kugisho or Yokosuka.

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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).

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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

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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).

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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.

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