The Aichi E8A (also designated Experimental 8-''Shi'' Reconnaissance Seaplane or Aichi AB-7) was a prototype

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese reconnaissance

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. It was a two-seat 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 ...

built 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 ...

. Only two were built.

Design and development

In 1933, the

issued a specification for a replacement for the Nakajima E4N shipboard reconnaissance floatplane.

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 ...

prepared two designs, the AM-7, 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 ...

Bristol Mercury The Bristol Mercury is a British nine-cylinder, air-cooled, single-row, piston radial engine. Designed by Roy Fedden of the Bristol Aeroplane Company it was used to power both civil and military aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. Developed from ...

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. ...

and the AB-7, a more conventional

, powered by a license-built

Bristol Jupiter The Bristol Jupiter is a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine that was built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developme ...

engine. The monoplane design was soon abandoned as its promised performance was little better than that of the aircraft it was meant to replace, but two examples of the AB-7 were built as the Experimental 8-''Shi'' Reconnaissance Seaplane, or E8A under the Short System designation system.Mikesh and Abe 1990, p. 74. The AB-7 was a 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 wood and metal construction, fitted with a single main float that could be replaced be a wheeled undercarriage for operations from land. Its wings folded to the rear to allow easier storage aboard ship. The pilot sat in an open cockpit while the observer's cockpit was part-enclosed to protect him from the environment. The Aichi design was evaluated against competing aircraft from Kawanishi, the E8K, a low-winged monoplane similar to the Aichi AM-7,Mikesh and Abe 1990, p. 137–138. and Nakajima, the biplane E8N. While the E8A had similar performance to the E8N, the Nakajima biplane had superior maneuverability and handling, and was preferred to both the Nakajima and Kawanishi offerings, with over 700 E8Ns built.Francillon 1970, pp. 408–410.

Specifications

Notes

* 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 7-''Shi'' stood for 1932, the 7th 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.

References

* Francillon, René J. ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War''. London, Putnam, 1970. . * Mikesh, Robert and Shorzoe Abe. ''Japanese Aircraft 1910–1941''. London:Putnam, 1990. . {{Japanese Navy short aircraft designations 1930s Japanese military reconnaissance aircraft Floatplanes E08A Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft