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Kyushu Q1W Tokai (Eastern Sea) / (Lorna)

1945 WORLD WAR 2

History of Kyushu Q1W East Sea (Baltic Sea)/(Lorna)

The Kyushu Q1W "East Sea" (translated as "East Sea", Allied codename "Lorna") was an anti-submarine bomber used by Imperial Japan in the last year of World War II. The type was produced in limited numbers and operated from land bases despite being used by the Imperial Japanese Navy. The aircraft was remembered for the mission at hand for being underpowered, but as the world's first purpose-built anti-submarine aircraft, it was serviceable enough to be ordered for mass production.

Only about 153 examples were produced.

In late 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy made a request to develop the "17-shi" aircraft, a specialized anti-submarine platform officially known as "Naval Patrol Aircraft Tokai". Due to the activities of American submarines in the Pacific, Japan began to suffer increasing casualties and was losing tons of war materiel in theater every month through Japanese shipping lanes. Aircraft company Kyushu (formerly Watanabe) delivered the Q1W "Tokai" and made its maiden flight in September 1943.

The aircraft proved easy to operate, and the evaluation phase followed. The system did not enter production until 1944, and it entered service in January 1945.

Also detrimental to the aircraft was the fact that the expected enhanced search radar was not installed, and the East China Sea had to use a limited search radar system. In practice, the East China Sea was defeated by its weak engines and slow speed, and became fodder for Allied fighters, which themselves became faster and more powerful.

The Japanese Empire would surrender at the end of August 1945, and in return, the legacy of the East China Sea would be effectively ended along with all other Japanese instruments of war.

While the Japanese Q1W is often externally compared to the Junkers Ju 88 medium bomber, it has little direct relation to its German contemporaries. Tokai is actually a smaller overall design and has been given a more focused role on the battlefield. She has the same "pencil" fuselage appearance, with a heavy glass upper crew compartment attached to the very forward end.

Heavy glass was also used in the nose and forward fuselage floor to provide a reasonable field of vision for the bombardier. The fuselage is tubular, tapering to the traditional tail with one vertical tail and two high-level horizontal planes. The wings are cantilevered mid-low monoplanes, mounted on either side of the forward fuselage, with a large root surface and a pronounced dihedron (upward angle). A single, stout radial engine unit is suspended in the partially contoured nacelle of each wing. Each engine drives a three-bladed propeller system and features a unique tapered propeller hub.

The landing gear was conventional at the time, with two single-wheel main landing gear legs and a small single-wheel tail wheel leg. The main landing gear is semi-recessed in the respective engine nacelles. There are three employees in the crew quarters.

The weapons are purely defensive and adequate for military aircraft of this classification. A rear-firing 7.7mm Type 92 machine gun is mounted on a flexible mount at the rear of the crew compartment, while one or two forward-firing 20mm Type 99 machine guns are sometimes fitted as an option.

Internally, the Q1W1 can use up to 1,100 lb bomb guns (2 x 550 lbs) or depth charges, the latter for anti-submarine warfare.

The production of the Kyushu Q1W is strictly limited, so only a few names exist for its variants. The Q1W1 was used to refer to the single prototype and its original Mark 11 production model as "East Sea".

The Q1W2 stands for the Mark 21 production model, which features the use of wood on the rear surface. The Q1W1-K "Tokai-Ren" ("Eastern Sea-Trainer") is an example of a never-before-seen four-seater trainer.

Q1W1 reports the following performance specifications for its two Hitachi Amakaze-31 series 9-cylinder radial engines, each producing 610 horsepower: a top speed of 201 miles per hour and a range of 839 miles. Service is capped at 14,730 feet with a climb rate of 751 feet per minute.

The curb weight is 6,839 pounds, and the maximum takeoff weight is 11,720 pounds.

Following the defeat of the Japanese war, the Q1W1 was used in insidious kamikaze suicide attacks on Allied naval ships.