H8K "Emily" @·AIRCRAFTUBE

  • Kawanishi H8K Kawanishi H8K
    Kawanishi H8K
  • H8K2 No. 426 (T-31) preserved at Kanoya H8K2 No. 426 (T-31) preserved at Kanoya
    H8K2 No. 426 (T-31) preserved at Kanoya
  • Shot down by a VB-115 PB4Y-1 (2 July 1944) Shot down by a VB-115 PB4Y-1 (2 July 1944)
    Shot down by a VB-115 PB4Y-1 (2 July 1944)
  • Captured by the Americans Captured by the Americans
    Captured by the Americans
  • Wreck at Makin, Gilbert Islands (November 1943) Wreck at Makin, Gilbert Islands (November 1943)
    Wreck at Makin, Gilbert Islands (November 1943)
  • Kanoya (Japan) Kanoya (Japan)
    Kanoya (Japan)
  • In American markings (1945-1947) In American markings (1945-1947)
    In American markings (1945-1947)

Kawanishi H8K "Emily"

The Kawanishi H8K was a large four-engined flying boat designed and built by the Japanese manufacturer Kawanishi for the Imperial Japanese Navy, which used it during the Second World War for long-range maritime patrol, reconnaissance, bombing and transport missions, usually flown alone over vast stretches of ocean. Its naval designation was Type 2 Flying Boat (Nishiki Hikōtei), often shortened to Nishiki Taitei (Type 2 Large Flying Boat); the Allies gave it the reporting name "Emily".

Fast for its class, heavily armed and, unusually for a Japanese aircraft of the period, protected by armour and partly self-sealing fuel tanks, the H8K earned the respect of the Allied pilots who met it over the Pacific. It is widely regarded as the best flying boat of the war; aviation historian René Francillon described it as the most outstanding water-based combat aircraft of the Second World War. Only 167 were built.

Design and development

In 1938, while its Type 97 flying boat (H6K) was just entering service, Kawanishi received from the Navy a 13-Shi specification for a large flying boat with far better performance: roughly 30% more speed and 50% more range than the H6K, together with stronger defensive armament. The targets set by the Navy (a maximum speed above 440 km/h, a cruising speed above 330 km/h and a range of more than 8,000 km) were exceptional for an aircraft of this size. For a navy limited by the naval treaties and forbidden to build air bases in its mandated islands of the South Pacific, a flying boat able to operate from atolls and lagoons was an attractive weapon.

The design team, led by engineer Shizuo Kikuhara, who had already designed the H6K, began detailed work in August 1938. They chose the Mitsubishi Kasei, then the most powerful and reliable Japanese radial engine, and adopted a cantilever shoulder-wing monoplane layout with a 38 m wing, a slender but deep two-deck hull, a single fin and fixed stabilising floats (retractable floats were initially planned). The design was refined through extensive wind tunnel, water tank and strength testing. Fuel was carried in eight small unprotected wing tanks and six large hull tanks, partly self-sealing and fitted with a carbon dioxide fire-extinguishing system; the crew enjoyed comforts rare in a combat aircraft of the time, including rest bunks, a galley and one of the first flushing toilets fitted to a flying boat.

The prototype was completed at the Kōnan plant at the end of December 1940 and made its first flight in January 1941. While its flight performance was excellent, it proved very unstable on the water at high speed, porpoising badly during take-off. The hull was deepened by about 50 cm and its planing bottom redesigned, and spray-suppression strips were added under the nose. Even after these changes the H8K never handled on the water as well as the H6K, but in the air it was far superior. Two pre-production aircraft joined the test programme in 1941, and on 5 February 1942 the type was adopted as the Type 2 Flying Boat Model 11 (H8K1), powered by four 1,530 hp Kasei 12 engines.

From the 18th aircraft onwards, production switched to the H8K2 (Model 12), the definitive version. It received four 1,850 hp Mitsubishi MK4Q Kasei 22 engines with water-methanol injection, a modified fin, more fuel and much heavier defensive armament: five 20 mm cannon (in nose, dorsal and tail power turrets and in the two side blisters) and four or five 7.7 mm machine guns in hatches. Late production aircraft carried an air-to-surface search radar whose antennas were mounted on the nose and under the wings, and some had their side blisters replaced by sliding hatches. The offensive load could consist of two 800 kg torpedoes, eight 250 kg bombs or sixteen 60 kg bombs or depth charges carried under the inner wings. Allied crews soon nicknamed this heavily defended aircraft the "flying porcupine".

A transport version, the H8K2-L Seikū ("Clear Sky"), was produced from 1943, with a reduced armament and accommodation for up to 29 passengers or 64 troops on two decks. Attempts to increase speed led to the H8K3, with retractable wingtip floats and a retractable dorsal turret; the two prototypes were later re-engined with Kasei 25b engines as the H8K4. Neither version entered production, as Japanese industry had to give priority to fighters at the end of the war.

Operational history

The H8K made its combat debut in one of the most audacious missions of the Pacific war, Operation K. On 4 March 1942, two H8K1s led by Lieutenant Hisao Hashizume took off from Wotje Atoll in the Marshall Islands with four 250 kg bombs each. After flying about 3,000 km, they landed at night at French Frigate Shoals, in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, where they were refuelled by the submarines I-15 and I-19, then set off for Pearl Harbor, some 900 km away. Heavy cloud and the blackout over Oahu prevented any accurate bombing: Hashizume's bombs fell on the slopes of Mount Tantalus, about 300 m from Roosevelt High School in Honolulu, breaking windows but causing no casualties, while those of the second aircraft probably fell into the sea. Both crews returned safely to the Marshall Islands, Hashizume continuing to Jaluit because his hull had been damaged during the take-off from French Frigate Shoals. A second raid planned in May 1942, as part of the preparations for the Battle of Midway, had to be cancelled when the submarines found French Frigate Shoals guarded by American warships.

On 10 March 1942, an H8K sent to reconnoitre Midway was intercepted and shot down by Brewster F2A Buffalo fighters of the US Marine Corps squadron VMF-221; its whole crew was lost.

The H8K2 then served throughout the Pacific and over the Indian Ocean, from the Marshall and Gilbert Islands to the Solomons, New Guinea, and the Dutch East Indies, flying long-range reconnaissance, convoy escort, anti-submarine patrols, night bombing raids and liaison missions, often supported by seaplane tenders such as the Akitsushima. Its speed allowed it to escape many fighters, and its armour, self-sealing tanks and powerful 20 mm cannon made it a dangerous opponent: in November 1943, an H8K attacked by three P-38 Lightning fighters managed to return to its base with two engines out, after shooting one of them down. As American air superiority grew, however, the flying boats suffered increasing losses in the air, notably to US Navy PB4Y-1 Liberator patrol bombers, and on their moorings during air raids.

The H8K was also used to carry senior officers. On 31 March 1944, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Mineichi Koga, disappeared in a typhoon aboard an H8K flying from Palau to Davao; a second flying boat carrying his chief of staff, Vice-Admiral Shigeru Fukudome, crashed off Cebu, and the operational plans it carried fell into the hands of Filipino guerrillas and then of the Americans.

In August 1945, only five H8Ks and six Seikū transports were still airworthy, and most of them were lost in accidents or scrapped within a few days.

The H8K is often compared with its Allied counterparts: slightly larger than the Short Sunderland, it was about 110 km/h faster and much more heavily armed, and more than 160 km/h faster than the Consolidated PBY Catalina, while carrying a similar payload. Fewer than 170 were built, against about 750 Sunderlands and more than 3,000 Catalinas. Kawanishi's experience with large flying boats was later passed on, through its successor Shin Meiwa, to the Shin Meiwa PS-1 and US-1 and to the ShinMaywa US-2.

Variants

  • H8K1 13-Shi Large Flying Boat : prototype with Mitsubishi MK4A Kasei 11 engines, followed by four supplementary prototypes with Kasei 12 engines. The first prototype was later converted into the H8K1-L transport.
  • H8K1 Type 2 Flying Boat Model 11 : first production version (from February 1942), four Mitsubishi MK4B Kasei 12 engines of 1,530 hp; 20 mm cannon in the dorsal and tail turrets, 7.7 mm machine guns in the nose, side blisters and hatches. 12 built in addition to the prototypes.
  • H8K1-L Type 2 Transport Flying Boat : the first prototype converted into a transport for up to 41 passengers.
  • H8K2 Type 2 Flying Boat Model 12 : main production version, four Mitsubishi MK4Q Kasei 22 engines of 1,850 hp, improved tail turret, five 20 mm cannon and four or five 7.7 mm machine guns; late aircraft fitted with search radar. 112 built.
  • H8K2-L Seikū Model 32 : transport version of the H8K2 for 29 passengers or 64 troops, armed with one 20 mm cannon and one 13 mm machine gun. 36 built from 1943 to 1945.
  • H8K3 Model 22 : experimental high-speed version with retractable wingtip floats, retractable dorsal turret and sliding side gun hatches. Two prototypes built.
  • H8K4 Model 23 : the two H8K3s re-engined with Mitsubishi MK4T-B Kasei 25b engines of 1,825 hp.
  • H8K4-L Model 33 : projected transport version of the H8K4, not built.
  • G9K : projected land-based attack bomber derived from the H8K, not built.

Operators

  • Japan : Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (notably the 801st, 802nd and 851st Kōkūtai, the Takuma air group and naval transport units).

Surviving aircraft

The only surviving H8K is the H8K2 manufacture number 426, built at the Kōnan plant in Kobe and delivered in 1943. After serving with the 801st and 802nd Kōkūtai, it was assigned in April 1945 to the Takuma air group on Shikoku, with tail code T-31. Surrendered to the Americans in September 1945, it was repaired by Japanese mechanics, flown to Yokohama, then shipped to the United States aboard the escort carrier USS Anzio. Painted with American insignia, it was evaluated at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and then at the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, in 1946-1947, providing information for American flying boat projects, before being stored at Norfolk, where it long stood near one of the base gates.

In 1979, at the request of the Museum of Maritime Science in Tokyo, the aircraft was returned to Japan. Restored, it was displayed outdoors next to the museum from July 1980. In 2004 it was dismantled and moved to the Kanoya Air Base Museum of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, in Kagoshima Prefecture, where it is displayed outdoors.

Several wrecks also lie in the Pacific, notably in Tanapag lagoon off Saipan, a popular dive site, and in Chuuk (Truk) lagoon.

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This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Kawanishi H8K of Wikipedia ( authors )

Kawanishi H8K "Emily"

  • Role : Maritime patrol, reconnaissance and bomber flying boat.
  • Manufacturer : Kawanishi.
  • Designer : Shizuo Kikuhara.
  • First flight : January 1941.
  • Introduction : February 1942.
  • Retired : 1945.
  • Status : retired.
  • Primary user : Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service.
  • Produced : 1941 to 1945.
  • Number built : 167.
  • Developed from : Kawanishi H6K.
  • Variants :
    • H8K2-L Seikū (transport).

    Specifications (H8K2)

  • Crew: 10.
  • Length: 92 ft 3 in (28.13 m).
  • Wingspan: 124 ft 8 in (38 m).
  • Height: 30 ft (9.15 m).
  • Wing area: 1,722 sq ft (160 m²).
  • Empty weight: 40,521 lb (18,380 kg).
  • Gross weight: 54,013 lb (24,500 kg).
  • Max takeoff weight: 71,650 lb (32,500 kg).
  • Powerplant: 4 × Mitsubishi MK4Q Kasei 22 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engines, 1,850 hp (1,380 kW) each for take-off.
  • Propellers: 4-bladed constant-speed propellers.
  • Maximum speed: 290 mph (467 km/h, 252 kn) at 16,400 ft (5,000 m).
  • Cruise speed: 184 mph (296 km/h, 160 kn) at 13,125 ft (4,000 m).
  • Range: 4,445 mi (7,150 km, 3,860 nmi).
  • Service ceiling: 29,035 ft (8,850 m).
  • Armament :
    • Guns: 5 × 20 mm Type 99 cannon (nose, dorsal and tail turrets, two side blisters) and 4 or 5 × 7.7 mm Type 92 machine guns (hatches).
    • Bombs: 2 × 800 kg (1,764 lb) torpedoes, or 8 × 250 kg (551 lb) bombs, or 16 × 60 kg (132 lb) bombs or depth charges.

— — — = = — — —

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Kawanishi H8K of Wikipedia ( authors )
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