By early 1915 Otijiro Itoh had established the Itoh Aeroplane Research Studio and an associated flying school and by that autumn had completed his first design, the Emi 1. The “Emi” was a respectful nod to the district of Osaka where he grew up.
The sole Emi 1 was a three-bay biplane with a fabric covered wooden structure. Its wings were of equal span and joined by parallel pairs of interplane struts. The upper wing was well above the fuselage and the lower ones mounted on the lower fuselage longerons. The Hyabusa-go’s French, 35–45 hp (26–34 kW) Grégoire Gyp four cylinder, water-cooled inline engine powered it. Its pilot had an open cockpit. At a time when there were few prepared airstrips, landing gear needed to be robust and the Emi 1’s gear had two wheels on each leg.
Its first flight was on 11 November 1915.
On 8 January 1916, not long after the first flight, Itoh flew the Emi 1 from his base at Inage Bay to Tokyo. This took 55 minutes and was the first flight to Tokyo. He later flew it to 58 Japanese cities, partly to advertise his aircraft and partly to raise air-mindedness in Japan. The Emi 1 was the second successful Japanese aircraft, following the Narahara 4 ”Ohtori-go”.
Later the Emi 1 was re-engined at Inage Bay with a 50 hp (37 kW) Hino Type, remaining in use with the flying school.
Emi 1 Powerplant: 1 × Grégoire Gyp 26–34 kW (35–45 hp) Propeller: 2-bladed fixed-pitch Wingspan: 11.50 m (37 ft 9 in) Wing area: 33 m2 (360 sq ft) Length: 6.65 m (21 ft 10 in) Height: 2.50 m (8 ft 2 in) Empty weight: 350 kg (772 lb) Maximum speed: 76 km/h (47 mph, 41 kn) Crew: one
Itô was born in in southern Osaka. While employed as a young man by the Sadoshima Copper and Iron Company in his hometown of Osaka, Otojiro Itoh (伊藤音次郎, Itô Otojirô) (June 3, 1891 – December 26, 1971) became inspired with flight when seeing the Wright brothers’ success in a film. ‘
In September 1909, after reading an article about the new biplane developed by Sanji Narahara, Itô wrote a letter to Narahara pleading to be employed as a pilot. At Narahara’s urging, Itô began taking night classes on mechanical engineering at the Kôshu Gakko (now Kogakuin University). He continued to maintain a correspondence with Narahara for many years.
At the age of 19, in 1910, ltoh left home and moved to Tokyo where he worked as a mechanic at the Narahara aeroplane company. Impressed with his eagerness and interest in aviation, Narahara made ltoh an assistant to Einosuke Shirato, who had worked exclusively for Narahara as a pilot. This association was interrupted when Itoh reached the age of 20 because, like all other young Japanese men, he was conscripted for a one year term of service in the military. Upon returning to Narahara in 1912, he assisted in the manufacture of the aeroplanes and accompanied demonstration flights around Japan as a ground crewman.
In February 1915, following Narahara Sanji’s departure from the aviation community, Itô established the Itô Aircraft Research Center in present day Mihama Ward of Chiba City.
As spare-time employment, ltoh assisted Shigesaburo Torigai with the manufacture of the Torigai Hayabusa-go Aeroplane which eventually crashed in September 1913. ltoh borrowed this aeroplane, quit his job and moved with the aeroplane to Inage, on Tokyo Bay just north of Chiba City. There he made repairs and modifications to the aeroplane, and began to learn to fly with the help of two others. The sandy beach there proved an excellent runway, but its availability was dependent upon the height of the tide. After three months of flying training, maintaining and repairing his own aircraft, he had accumulated a total of a mere 3 hours of flying.
Pilot licences, or, for that matter, any regulations concerning flying and aeroplanes were yet to come. Therefore, Itoh established a flying school on the beach at Inage in February 1915, and called it the ltoh Kyodo Hiko Renshusho (Itoh Co-operative Flight Training Ground). The ltoh Aeroplane Research Studio and Training Ground were both known to the public as ltoh Airfield. For flying training, he used the Torigai Hayabusa-go Aeroplane after it had been modified. To supplement his income, Itoh joined part time with Shirato, formerly with the Narahara company, who now was building his own aeroplanes. This added income allowed ltoh to begin his commercial construction of aircraft and by the autumn of 1915 he completed his first; the Itoh Emi I.
In November 1915, Itô finished construction of an airplane named after himself and his hometown, the “Itô-Emi Type 1.” On January 8, 1916, Itô flew his aircraft over Tokyo, making him famous among Japanese aviators. After Itô’s aircraft facility suffered severe damage from winds and flooding in late September 1917, he moved his operation to Tsunanuma-chô (now Naraishino City), and reestablished his business under the name “Itô Aircraft Manufacturing.” Among the pilots that Itô trained was Tadashi Hyōdō, the first Japanese woman to earn her pilot’s license, and Inoue Chôichi, who established the Japan Air Freight Corporation.
Ito-Emi type 1
When the Asahi News Corporation established the Tôsai Teiki Airlines in 1923, Itô Aircraft Manufacturing provided both aircraft and pilots, thereby contributing to civil aviation transportation. In 1930, Itô established the Japan Light Aircraft Club and appointed Sanji Narahara as club president, which contributed to the spread of lighter-than-air aircraft in Japan.
Although Itô was one of the few successful aviators to come from a purely civil aviation background, he withdrew from the world of aviation following the ban on all aviation activities from the GHQ after the Occupation of Japan. Itô established a farming cooperative with volunteers drawn from the former workers at his factory in 1948, and moved to Tôyama Village in Chiba Prefecture (now Tôhô, Narita City) to open up new farmland as part of the post-war land reclamation project.
Despite the great effort expended by Itô’s group to cultivate land that had once been bamboo forest, their farm was eventually included in the area designated for the Tokyo International Airport (now Narita International Airport). The sudden announcement of this plan was devastating for many local residents, some of whom participated in the Sanrizuka Struggle, but it was said that Itô alone of all the area’s residents welcomed the arrival of the airport. Although he had put his energy into farming, Itô willingly agreed to sell his land, and was among the first to sign a contract with the airport organization.
Memorial to the birthplace of civil aviation
Afterwards, Itô put his energy into the establishment of the Civil Aviation Memorial in Inage Seaside Park. The journals and written records that Itô left behind were eventually used by author Hiragi Kunio. On December 26, 1971, Itô died at the age of 80.
Japan Established in December 1952 as Itoh Chu Koku Seibi Kabushiki Kaisha to maintain and repair light aircraft. In 1960 produced the N-58 Cygnet light cabin monoplane designed by students at Nihon University. Aided in development of, and produced, N-62 Eaglet four-seater also designed at Nihon University. Late in 1968 converted a number of North American T-6 Texan trainers to represent Nakajima B5N torpedo-bombers for film Tora! Tora! Tora! Adopted Shin Nihon Koku Seibi Kabushiki Kaisha name on May 29,1970, thereafter concentrating on manufacture of aircraft equipment.
Dott Ing Stelio Frati designed the F.20 Pegaso light twin; two prototypes built (first flown 1971) and an agreement was reached for production aircraft to be manufactured by Italair.
Dott Ing Stelio Frati designed the F.20 Pegaso light twin; two prototypes built (first flown 1971) and an agreement was reached for production aircraft to be manufactured by Italair.
The XL-17 ” Musang” (Wildcat) is the fourth aircraft in the series designed and constructed by the Institute of Science and Technology of Manila in the Philippine Republic, and is part of a programme to test the application of local materials, such as home-grown woods, to aircraft structure. During their experiments the Institute developed a material which it called “Wobex”. “Wobex” consists of diagonally woven strips of thin bamboo glued together, made air tight and leakproof, and finished on the surface with a layer of fine sawdust and glue. Its main use is as a stressed skin covering.
In the mid-1950s the Philippine Institute of Science and Technology (I.S.T.) designed the single engine, tricycle undercarriage, low wing monoplane L-17 was one of them.
Designed by Antonio J. de Leon, its wing was a single-piece wooden structure with 5° of dihedral and a straight-tapered plan. It was plywood-covered and had split flaps inboard of the ailerons. The cantilever tail unit was similarly constructed with the straight-tapered horizontal surfaces on top of the extreme aft fuselage; the single-piece elevator carried an offset trim tab. The vertical tail was tall and straight-edged; the bottom of the horn balanced rudder was above the elevator and just aft of its hinge, with a small cut-out to allow for elevator deflection.
Fuselage is a one-piece semi-monocoque structure with wooden bulkheads and stringers covered by a “Wobex ” skin, which in turn is covered with fabric for final finishing and polishing. Fuel tanks are fitted aft of the seats and the rest of the fuselage space can be used as either a radio compartment or as baggage space. The engine mount is the standard truss-type with attachments at four points to the firewall bulkhead, which is reinforced for the attachment of the nose landing gear. The cantilever wing is trapezoid in form and of one-piece construction that tapers in chord and length. It is made up of one main and one auxiliary spar of box-type construction and reinforced diagonal spar. The leading edge is covered with a thick plywood covering to take torsional and chordwise shear loads. Overall wing covering is fabric. Slotted type ailerons are fitted and simple split flaps are located under the wings between the ailerons and the fuselage. The wing root upper section upper covering is reinforced to serve as a step and walkway to the cockpit. A tricycle undercarriage is fitted, the main gear to the main wing spars and the nose gear to the firewall bulkhead.
Cockpit seating two side by side under a single piece canopy. A 108 hp (80 kW) Lycoming O-235-C1 flat-four engine drove a two-blade propeller. The fixed tricycle undercarriage had rearward-sloping oleo legs mounted to the wings, giving a track of 2.40 m (7 ft 10 in).
The first flight of the L-17 was scheduled for May 1956.
Engine: 1 × Lycoming O-235-C1, 81 kW (108 hp) Propeller: 2-bladed , fixed pitch, wooden Wingspan: 9.60 m (31 ft 6 in) Wing area: 13.40 m2 (144.2 sq ft) Airfoil: US 35B at root, NACA 23012 tip Length: 7.20 m (23 ft 7 in) Height: 3.20 m (10 ft 6 in) Empty weight: 510 kg (1,124 lb) Gross weight: 735 kg (1,620 lb) Fuel capacity: 68 L (15 Imp gal, 18 US gal) Maximum speed: 210 km/h (130 mph, 110 kn) Cruise speed: 175 km/h (109 mph, 94 kn) Stall: 80 kph Rate of climb: 3.8 m/s (750 ft/min) Crew: 2
In the early 1950s in the Philippines, the Institute of Science and Technology (I.S.T., previously known as the Bureau of Science) designed at least three different prototypes, both to investigate the scope for local aircraft design and production and to examine the use of indigenous materials in their construction. One such material of interest was Wobex (Woven bamboo experimental), a reinforced woven bamboo.
The XL-15 Tagak was the second of these prototypes, developed in collaboration with the Philippine Air Force, it was designed by Antonio J. de Leon as a utility, liaison or ambulance aircraft and as a test bed for the use of local materials in aviation. It was a single-engine, high-wing monoplane with a twin-boom layout and tricycle undercarriage to enable easy access to the fuselage pod via rear doors. The inner wing sections, fitted with slotted flaps on the trailing edges had constant chord but further out the wings tapered, with slotted ailerons. There was a single lift strut on each side between wing and lower fuselage, with an airfoil profile to add to the lift from the wings.
The fuselage of the Tagak was a wood and plywood framed semi-monocoque skinned with Wobex and ply. Its cabin, behind the 185 hp Lycoming flat six engine, was 3.26 m (10 ft 6 in) long to the rear of the pod. There were two front seats under the wing leading edge, two more behind and room for one or two (stacked) stretcher cases. The cabin had two windows on each side and the rear part of the pod, which projected behind the wing trailing edge, was also extensively glazed. The two tail booms, of all ply construction, were integral with the wing centre section. The fins, with long chord underside fillets, were integral with the booms. The tailplane was rectangular and extended beyond the fins, carrying a horn balanced elevator. The fixed surfaces were of wood and ply construction, with Wobex covering; control surfaces were fabric covered.
Flight testing of the Tagak began in October 1954. By 1956 some small modifications had been made: rudder area was increased and a shimmy-damper added to the nosewheel leg.
Only one was built.
Engine: 1 × Lycoming O-425A, 138 kW (185 hp) Propeller: 2-bladed fixed pitch Wingspan: 12.0 m (39 ft 4 in) Wing area: 20.30 m2 (218.5 sq ft) Airfoil: NACA 23012 (inner section), USA 35B outer section Length: 9.15 m (30 ft 0 in) Height: 2.80 m (9 ft 2 in) Empty weight: 780 kg (1,720 lb) Gross weight: 1,250 kg (2,756 lb) Fuel capacity: 174 L (38 Imp gal, 46 US gal) Maximum speed: 200 km/h (120 mph, 110 kn) Cruise speed: 158 km/h (98 mph, 85 kn) Range: 675 km (419 mi, 364 nmi) Service ceiling: 4,000 m (13,000 ft) Rate of climb: 3.0 m/s (590 ft/min) Seats: 4
The XL-10B Balang (Grasshopper) was a powered glider joint project of Institute of Science and Technology (IST) and Philippine Air Force (PAF) Air Research and Development Authority (ARDA).
It first flew in 1953.
Engine: 20 hp Wingspan: 12 m Length: 5.20 m Height: 1.5 m Aspect ratio: 8.1 Wing area: 17.8 sq,m Empty weight: 185 kg Loaded weight: 280 kg Max speed: 125 kph Cruise speed: 72-80 kph Stall: 49 kph Glide speed: 75 mph
