British WWI A/C in Japan (1920-1921-…)?

Tsuru · 7 September 2006, 03:36 PM

Hello,

Would anyone have some information on the British Sempill Mission to the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force in 1920-1921? Thanks!

Cheers,
Tsuru

Graeme · 8 September 2006, 11:00 AM

Tsuru

Only what's available from trawling the 'net:

The British technical mission, called the Sempill Mission after its leader, arrived in Japan in September of 1921.

A group of 29 instructors under Captain Sempill began training operations at the Navy's first air base at Kasumigaura. Several new aircraft types, including the Gloster Sparrowhawk, were introduced and for over a year intensive training was carried out in flight control, torpedo bombing, squadron tactics and in numerous technical courses. The influence of this mission was profound and contributed to rapid progress in organizational and operational efficiency. They also were of assistance to the ship designers as they brought with them plans of the latest British aircraft carriers, Argus and Hermes. These were state-of-the-art at the time; Argus was the first flush-deck carrier and Hermes was the first aircraft carrier to be designed as such rather than being converted from another hull. These plans had an influence on the design of the first Japanese carrier Hosho.

The aircraft manufacturing companies were created to support the expansion of military aviation. They began by manufacturing foreign designs under licensing arrangements in order to gain experience. However, it was realized that this was not the long term answer and Mitsubishi, Kawanishi, and Nakajima, (the three largest), each sought design assistance from established companies in Europe. Mitsubishi approached Junkers and Rohrbach in Germany and invited Herbert Smith of Sopwith to come to Japan to design aircraft. Smith arrived in 1921 and was given the assignment of designing three new carrier-based aircraft to equip the nearly complete carrier Hosho. When Hosho was commissioned in 1922 she became the first carrier completed to be designed for the role; although HMS Hermes was designed first, construction proceeded at a leisurely pace and the Hosho entered service before her.

Graeme