Thorlifter
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The Japanese newspaper firm Asahi Shimbun was given permission to purchase the second prototype of the aircraft named "Kamikaze", which first took flight on 19 Mar 1937; the civilian version of the Ki-15 was designated Karigane. On 6 Apr 1937, "Kamikaze" took off from Tachikawa Airfield in Tokyo, Japan at 1412 hours with Masaaki Iinuma as pilot and Kenji Tsukagoshi as the navigator; it was flying for London for the coronation of King George VI of the United Kingdom. After stops in Taipei, Hanoi, Vientiane, Calcutta, Karachi, Basra, Baghdad, Athens, Rome, and Paris, it arrived in London at 1530 hours on 9 Apr. The actual flight time of 51 hours, 17 minutes, and 23 seconds was a world record, while "Kamikaze" also became the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly over Europe. Both Iinuma and Tsukagoshi were awarded the Légion d'honneur award by the French government for the achievement. On 12 Apr, "Kamikaze" carried Prince Chichibu (Yasuhito) and Princess Chichibu (Setsuko Matsudaira), who were visiting England for the coronation, on a joyride. On 12 May 1937, the actual date of the coronation, "Kamikaze" was used to film the ceremony from the air. On 14 May, "Kamikaze" returned to Japan, arriving in Osaka on 20 May and then the Haneda Airport in Tokyo on 21 May. "Kamikaze" ran into bad weather in southern Taiwan and had to be ditched; the wreck was later recovered and put on display in Ikoma in Nara Prefecture, but it was destroyed during Allied bombing in WW2. Owing to the success of "Kamikaze", the Karigane design became popular. A small number of Karigane aircraft operated in the civilian sector, many of them as fast mail delivery aircraft.
Source: WW2 data base at ww2db.com
The Japanese newspaper firm Asahi Shimbun was given permission to purchase the second prototype of the aircraft named "Kamikaze", which first took flight on 19 Mar 1937; the civilian version of the Ki-15 was designated Karigane. On 6 Apr 1937, "Kamikaze" took off from Tachikawa Airfield in Tokyo, Japan at 1412 hours with Masaaki Iinuma as pilot and Kenji Tsukagoshi as the navigator; it was flying for London for the coronation of King George VI of the United Kingdom. After stops in Taipei, Hanoi, Vientiane, Calcutta, Karachi, Basra, Baghdad, Athens, Rome, and Paris, it arrived in London at 1530 hours on 9 Apr. The actual flight time of 51 hours, 17 minutes, and 23 seconds was a world record, while "Kamikaze" also became the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly over Europe. Both Iinuma and Tsukagoshi were awarded the Légion d'honneur award by the French government for the achievement. On 12 Apr, "Kamikaze" carried Prince Chichibu (Yasuhito) and Princess Chichibu (Setsuko Matsudaira), who were visiting England for the coronation, on a joyride. On 12 May 1937, the actual date of the coronation, "Kamikaze" was used to film the ceremony from the air. On 14 May, "Kamikaze" returned to Japan, arriving in Osaka on 20 May and then the Haneda Airport in Tokyo on 21 May. "Kamikaze" ran into bad weather in southern Taiwan and had to be ditched; the wreck was later recovered and put on display in Ikoma in Nara Prefecture, but it was destroyed during Allied bombing in WW2. Owing to the success of "Kamikaze", the Karigane design became popular. A small number of Karigane aircraft operated in the civilian sector, many of them as fast mail delivery aircraft.
Source: WW2 data base at ww2db.com
