Japanese Aircraft Industry 1933-45 Book 1

In the eary days the Japanese aircraft industry produced mostly foreign designs under-licence, but from the beginnig were keen to produce their own indigenous types and by the mid-1930s, they possessed a number of types that unbeknown to the West were far superior to those the Allies were building. When the war in the Pacific started by the attack on Pearl Harbor the Americans found it hard to believe that the attack planes had been launched from carriers hundrds of miles away. Throughout the Pacifiac war Japanese aircraft industry produced some excellent designs but never in the right numbers or at the right time. The Achilles heel of the industry was its aero-engine sector that seemed unable to produce a reliable aero-engine that did not burst into flames This is the first of a two book set of this extremely interesting but little publised subject with many surprises for the reader. It includes reports of many of the types at war and the Netherlands East Indies book can be read in association with it.