The Fuji T-1 Hatsutaka was

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 ...

's first jet-powered

trainer aircraft A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristic ...

. Its first flight was in January 1958. A total of 66 T-1 planes were built.Simpson 2001, p.246 It was retired in March 2006.

Design and development

After World War II, Japanese aircraft industry was banned from research as well as the destruction of materials and equipment related to aircraft. In 1952, a partial ban on aircraft research was lifted, making it possible to develop Japan's own domestic jet aircraft. In the spring of 1954, the Defense Agency's plan to develop a training jet aircraft emerged, which later lead to the development of the T-1 training plane. The T-1 was the first indigenously designed Japanese jet aircraft to be developed since

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was Japan's first mass-produced jet and the first aircraft to apply a

swept wing A swept wing is a wing angled either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than perpendicular to the fuselage. Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigated in Ge ...

. The development of a domestic jet engine was not completed in time, so the T-1A was powered by the British-designed Bristol Siddeley Orpheus turbojet and made its first flight on May 17, 1960. The T-1B was powered by the Ishikawajima-Harima J3 turbojet and 20 were produced between June 1962 and June 1963. Fuji was the successor to the Nakajima Aircraft Company (famous for building several aircraft such as Nakajima Ki-43 and

Nakajima Ki-84 The is a single-seat fighter flown by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service in the last two years of World War II. The Allied reporting name was "Frank"; the Japanese Army designation was . The Ki-84 is generally considered the best Japanes ...

during WW2). The first aircraft of Fuji's own design was the T-1 jet trainer. More than 200 T-1s were to be produced, but with the introduction of the Lockheed F-104J/DJ fighters, the education system changed and the Lockheed T-33A, which was in large numbers, took on the same role, and only 66 T-1s were introduced. With the entry into service of its successor, the

Kawasaki T-4 The Kawasaki T-4 is a Japanese subsonic intermediate jet trainer aircraft developed and manufactured by the commercial conglomerate Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Its sole operator is the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), in part due to historic ...

, flight training with the T-1 was completed in December 2000. The last T-1 was retired on March 3, 2006.

Variants

''Data from'': Simpson 2001, p. 246 ;T1F1: powered by a Nippon J3 engine. ;T1F2: Two prototypes, powered by Bristol BOr.1 Orpheus engines. ;T1F3: Initial designation for the production T-1A, powered by Bristol BOr.4 Orpheus engines. ;T-1A: Powered by a 17.79 kN (4,000 lbf) Bristol Siddeley Orpheus Mk 805 turbojet engine. The original designation was T1F3. 46 built. ;T-1B:Powered by an 11.77 kN (2,645 lbf) Ishikawajima-Harima J3-IHI-3 turbojet engine. 20 built. ;T-1C : Converted to 13.72 kN (3,085 lbf) Ishikawajima-Harima J3-IHI-7 engines.

Operators

; * Japan Air Self Defense Force

Aircraft on display

* T-1B ''25-5856'' at Tokorozawa Aviation Museum,

Saitama Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (January 1, 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 Square kilometre, km2 ( ...

* T-1B ''35-5870'' at Saitama Subaru Sakitama Garden, Gyōda,

Thompson, Pau
J-HangarSpace - Aviation Museums
Retrieved September 8, 2016 * T-1B ''05-5810'' at Kakamigahara Air and Space Museum

Specifications (T-1A)

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * Donald, David and Jon Lake. ''Encyclopedia of World Military Aircraft''. London:Aerospace Publishing, 1996, Single Volume Edition. . * * Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965-66''. London:Sampson Low, Marston, 1965.

External links

{{JSDF aircraft designations T-001 1950s Japanese military trainer aircraft Single-engined jet aircraft Low-wing aircraft F-86 Sabre Aircraft first flown in 1958 Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear