Birth of Yuhi-go at Tokorozawa in 1915
In 1911 when the first Japan's airfield was built in Tokorozawa, the army immediately purchased an airship Parseval (non-rigid type) from Germany, one of the most advanced countries then. People were stunned by the gigantic figure with a total length of 76.6 meters. Engineers gathered from all over the country to build a hangar to store it. At the time, it was Japan's first construction of such a large building that would touch the sky, using a huge amount of imported steel, concrete and glass. Those who longed for the sky, those who approached the curiosity, not only people in the neighborhood, but also people from around Tokyo, carrying lanterns in the hand and carrying lunch box all night long.
On March 28, 1913, the first public flight took place at the army's Aoyama Parade Ground. Tens of thousands of Tokyo citizens, including members of the House of Peers and the House of Representatives, were waiting impatiently at the spacious venue. On that day, Lieutenants Kimura and Tokuda also participated with a famous French Blériot monoplane. The airship Parcéval, with five crew on board, including the captain, was about to fly over Aoyama, but when it was about to land, the mooring rope got entangled in the overhead wire and caused trouble. Fortunately, all crew members were safe.
The huge, damaged hull was transported by train from Aoyama via Kokubunji to a station in Tokorozawa, and then to the airfield by a large number of soldiers. Army authorities immediately modified the hull to re-build a new airship. Strong silk cloth "Habutae" coated with rubber was used by Fujikura Rubber at Osaki in Tokyo. With a total length 85 meters, width 15 meters and height 20.5 meters, this new ship was named "Yuhi(雄飛)" to be born.
At that time, the town of Tokorozawa was in the countryside beginning to use electric lights from oil lamps and lanterns. Residents were stunned by this huge sky monster. Since then, the Yuhi-go was tested by specialists and, on December 2, 1915, this airship participated in the military parade and performed a good mission splendidly. On June 16, 1917, it flew to Sendai City in 5 hours and 20 minutes to show reliability for the long-distance flight.
After Sendai, the Yuhi-go also flew to Hirosaki City in Aomori Pref and Osaka City for the scout training as well as demonstrations making big news in Japan. To take off, however, as this airship needed not only a large amount of helium gas but nearly 100 soldiers to set it up, the army was obliged to give up operation finally. As its beautiful and majestic appearance was completely burned into the eyes of Tokorozawa people, they were proud of Yuhi-go for a long time.
By the way, in 1915, Mr. Sannosuke Hoshino, the owner of the confectionery shop "Baigetsu" in Miyuki-cho of Tokorozawa, released a specialty of Tokorozawa "Original Cooky Yuhi". This is said highly prized by soldiers and town people. Even today, we can see this cooky in its original form.
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Source: History of Tokorozawa City (1983)