My interest in Japanese military aviation industry started with an identification quiz of a now defunct website. In the quiz section of that web site, photos of different modern and historic military aircraft were shown and the participant was to choose the correct answer. I always did well in the quiz, except in the questions where Japanese World War II aircraft were shown. Until that time, all Japanese WWII fighters were “Zero”s and “Hayate”s to me, like all Russian fighters are “MiG”s for most people. But the quiz had a lot of aircraft with “Ki” numbers, Mitsubishi, Nakajima, Kawasaki, etc manufacturers. Then I started to do some research on World War II military aviation of Japan.
This is how my enthusiasm in Japanese military aviation began.
My interest in this specific subject intensified as I make more research, read more books and collect more data. Japan had a very unique aviation history; much neglected by the average Western aviation researcher. Most of the studies concentrated on specific topics such as Pearl Harbor raid, Midway, Kamikaze’s etc. Respected aviation historians like Rene Francillion provided exceptional research to Western aviation circles, but the total number of work in high quality remained limited.
HIKOTAI.net is the product of an effort to provide a sound information resource for the Western aviation historians, enthusiasts and researchers concentrated on Japanese military aviation history, from its foundation to today. It is by no means an academic study, i.e claiming no precision in the numerical data or historical information given therein. This site is what I know about Japanese military aviation, its history, products, capabilities and future as well as recent aerospace developments in Far East Asia region.
I will try to update the contents of HIKOTAI.net frequently, as I collect more data and do more research. Thus, I will appreciate any feedback and contribution.
M. Arda MEVLUTOGLU
editor@hikotai.net