Q1W Tokai
ManufacturerKyushu Hikoki
The Kyūshū Q1W Tōkai (東海, Eastern Sea) was a land-based anti-submarine patrol bomber aircraft designed and produced by the Japanese aviation manufacturer Kyūshū Aircraft Company. The Allied reporting name was "Lorna".
The Tōkai was developed in response to an Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) requirement for a dedicated anti-submarine aircraft during World War II. Although somewhat similar in appearance to the Junkers Ju 88 medium bomber operated by the Luftwaffe, the Q1W was a much smaller aircraft with significantly different design details. It was powered by a pair of relatively low-power Hitachi GK2 Amakaze 31 radial engines and capable of flying for long periods at low speeds. The Tōkai was provisioned with a Type 3 radar unit and a magnetic anomaly detector; it could strike detected submarines with 250 kg (551 lb) depth charges.
The first prototype was completed in September 1943, and quantity production was authorised in early 1944; however, few aircraft were produced due to the Pacific War having gone poorly for Imperial Japan. Introduced in 1945 as the Navy Patrol Plane Tokai (Eastern Sea) Model 11, it was normally used to protect Japanese convoys, but proved to be extremely vulnerable...
The Tōkai was developed in response to an Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) requirement for a dedicated anti-submarine aircraft during World War II. Although somewhat similar in appearance to the Junkers Ju 88 medium bomber operated by the Luftwaffe, the Q1W was a much smaller aircraft with significantly different design details. It was powered by a pair of relatively low-power Hitachi GK2 Amakaze 31 radial engines and capable of flying for long periods at low speeds. The Tōkai was provisioned with a Type 3 radar unit and a magnetic anomaly detector; it could strike detected submarines with 250 kg (551 lb) depth charges.
The first prototype was completed in September 1943, and quantity production was authorised in early 1944; however, few aircraft were produced due to the Pacific War having gone poorly for Imperial Japan. Introduced in 1945 as the Navy Patrol Plane Tokai (Eastern Sea) Model 11, it was normally used to protect Japanese convoys, but proved to be extremely vulnerable...
