The Aichi F1A (designated AB-13 by its designers and manufacturers at

Aichi is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture ...

) was a prototype

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

of the 1930s. A single-engined

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

, the F1A was intended as a short-range observation aircraft suitable for operation off the

Imperial Japanese navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

's warships, but only two were built, the

Mitsubishi F1M The Mitsubishi F1M ( Allied reporting name "Pete") is a Japanese reconnaissance floatplane of World War II. It was the last biplane type of the Imperial Japanese Navy, with 944 built between 1936 and 1944. The Navy designation was "Type Zero Obse ...

being selected instead.

Design and development

The F1A was designed by

in response to a 1935 specification, issued to Aichi, Kawanishi and

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

for a replacement for the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

's Nakajima E8N

s, which were used for short-ranged reconnaissance and observation missions from the Navy's warships. Aichi at first considered a low-winged

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

design, the AM-10, to meet this requirement, but this was rejected in favour of a more conventional

design, the AB-13.Mikesh and Abe 1990, p. 77.Francillon 1970, p. 358. The AB-13 was a small single-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

biplane of mixed construction. It had wooden

stressed-skin In mechanical engineering, stressed skin is a rigid construction in which the skin or covering takes a portion of the structural load, intermediate between monocoque, in which the skin assumes all or most of the load, and a rigid frame, which has ...

wings with

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

skinning that folded to allow easy storage aboard ship, while combat flaps were fitted as the aircraft was required to have sufficient maneuverability for air combat as well as its normal observation missions. The fuselage was of metal construction, with the pilot sitting in an open cockpit, but the observer's position being enclosed. Both float and wheeled undercarriages were designed, with the seaplane having a single main float, while the landplane version had a fixed tailwheel undercarriage. Power was provided by a single

Nakajima Hikari The Nakajima Hikari (Japanese: 光 "Light") was a nine-cylinder, air-cooled, radial aircraft engine developed in Japan for Navy use during World War II by the Nakajima Aircraft Company. It was a development of the Nakajima Kotobuki and Wright ...

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating engine, reciprocating type internal combustion engine, internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinder (engine), cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. ...

.Mikesh and Abe 1990, pp. 77–78.

Operational history

Two prototypes of the AB-13, designated Experimental 10-''Shi'' Observation Aircraft and with the short system designation F1A were built, the first a floatplane and the second with wheeled undercarriage, both being completed in 1936. Although Mitsubishi's competing F1M1 prototypes had poor stability both on the water and in the air, they had superior performance to Aichi's design. Mitsubishi redesigned its aircraft as the F1M2, eliminating its handling problems,Francillon 1970, pp. 358–359. and it was selected for production in 1940.

Specifications (Floatplane)

References

;Footnotes * In the Japanese Navy designation system, specifications were given a ''Shi'' number based on the year of the Emperor's reign it was issued. In this case 10-''Shi'' stood for 1935, the 10th year of the

Shōwa era The was a historical period of History of Japan, Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) from December 25, 1926, until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death on January 7, 1989. It was preceded by the T ...

.Mikesh and Abe 1990, pp. 2, 286. ;Citations ;Bibliography * Francillon, Ph.D., René J. ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War''. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1970. (2nd edition 1979, ). * Mikesh, Robert C. and Shorzoe Abe. ''Japanese Aircraft, 1910–1941''. London: Putnam Aeronautical, 1990. .

External links

three-way drawing
{{Japanese Navy short aircraft designations 1930s Japanese military reconnaissance aircraft Floatplanes F1A Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1936