MARCH 2021 VOLUME 14 - No 6 - Gliding International
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GLIDING
MARCH 2021 VOLUME 14 - No 6
l N T E R N A T I O N A L
March 2021 1
GLIDING
March 2021 VOLUME 14 - No 6
Editor:
John H. Roake
Manager:
Janice Armstrong
Correspondents:
l N T E R N A T I O N A L Aldo Cernezzi
Robert (Bob) Downe
Joseph King
Myles Hynde
Arthur Liddington
Gliding International published by:
Gliding International Ltd
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Phone +64-7-571-4161
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Summing up - Wollf Hirth 21
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Cumulus Soaring 47
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Cover: Photographer, Tobias Barth tell us that this unique flight over the roofs of the Contact the magazine’s advertising
megacity, Hamburg, Germany, was only possible due to the Corona Pandemic. Where usually department by email at:
big airliners from all over the world approach the city, the airspace was free for this planned
photo flight with a brand new JS3 made by Jonker Sailplanes, South Africa. Tobias took off office@glidinginternational.com
30km away in his current hometown Stade, whereas the JS3 took off directly in Hamburg
from a glider airfield named “Boberg”. We met in the air exactly on time at the agreed
meeting point. By radio and hand signals Tobias directed the pilot to the right place. Thus
this unique picture became a reality.
2 Gliding International March 2021 3
Germany and Japan were
war on Germany. By the end of 1941, German forces and the from 1933 to 1945 (Fuhrer from 1934 to 1945). He was central to
European Axis powers occupied most of Europe and North Africa. the perpetration of the Holocaust and his actions and ideology are
These gains were gradually reversed after 1941, and in 1945 the regarded as evil. His racially motivated ideology called the “Nazi
Allied armies defeated the German army. On April 29, 1945, he Regime” was responsible for the genocide of millions of Jews and
Closer Than Ever Imagined !
married his longtime lover Eva Braun in the Führerbunker in Berlin. other victims. He and the regime were also responsible for killing
Two days later, the couple committed suicide to avoid capture by an estimated 19 million civilians and prisoners of war, and more
the Soviet Red Army. Their corpses were burned. than 28 million soldiers and civilians died from military action.
Hitler’s father, Alois Hitler Sr. (1837–1903), was the illegitimate Hitler was earning over $1 million a year from Mein Kampf royalties
child of Maria Anna Schicklgruber. The baptismal register does at his peak. (That’s the equivalent of $12 million a year in today’s
Pre World War not show the name of his father, and Alois initially bore his
mother’s surname.
dollars). In total, Mein Kampf sold over 10 million copies.
Hitler earned enough money from his royalties to accumulate a
II Gliding Germany’s involvement in aviation was rescinded under the
$10 million tax bill which he promptly forgave the day he became
Chancellor.
Treaty of Versailles and therein became the catalyst that promoted
N
research into gliding with strong support from the Japanese, Hitler used his new found wealth to purchase several lavish homes
o history on the development of gliding would
although historically little has previously been written on this including one that became the main headquarters of the Nazi
be complete without reference to the Hitler
subject. The Versailles Treaty and the economic, social, and party, the Berghof. Hitler invested millions of his own dollars into
Youth movement, the organisation set up by
political conditions in Germany after the World War I were later purchasing and renovating the Berghof property from what was
Adolf Hitler in 1933 for educating and training male
exploited by Hitler for political gain. once a small chalet into what we would today consider a massive
youth in Nazi principles. Under the leadership of Baldur
luxurious estate complete with libraries, screening rooms, pools,
von Schirach, head of all German youth programs,
Hitler’s book (an autobiography and political manifest) entitled tennis courts, multiple car garages and much more.
the Hitler Youth included by 1935 almost 60 percent
Mein Kampf was published in two volumes in 1925 and 1926. He
of German boys. On July 1, 1936, it became a state
sold 228,000 copies between 1925 and 1932. One million copies And so our research goes on - The connection with Japan prior
agency that all young “Aryan” Germans were expected
were sold in 1933, Hitler’s first year in office. (For the record, when to World War II plus a story in our next issue that involves the
to join. Gliding under state control was an important
the U.S. stock market crashed on October 24, 1929, the impact development with the Japanese, the creation of the German
facet of Hitler Youth, and played a very strategic part
in Germany was dire: millions were thrown out of work and several Youth gliding division, and a story about a German student who
in the creation of gliding as a world sport.
major banks collapsed). spent a large portion of his youth in the U.S.A. prior to returning
Upon reaching his 10th birthday, a German boy was
to Germany, joining Hitler Youth, and then back to U.S.A. again.
registered and investigated (especially for “racial
Adolf Hitler at the time of his suicide had a net worth equal to
purity”) and, if qualified, inducted into the Deutsches
$150 million at the peak of his power (adjusting for inflation). He ENJOY !
Jungvolk (“German Young People”). At age 13 the
was the leader of the Nazi Party and was Chancellor of Germany
youth became eligible for the Hitler Youth, from which
he graduated at age 18. Throughout these years he
lived a spartan life of dedication, fellowship, and Nazi
conformity, generally with minimum parental guidance.
From age 18 he was a member of the Nazi Party and
served in the state labour service and the armed forces
until at least the age of 21. Two leagues also existed
for girls. The League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher
Mädel) trained girls ages 14 to 18 for comradeship,
domestic duties, and motherhood. Jungmädel (“Young
Girls”) was an organisation for girls ages 10 to 14.
HITLER YOUTH RALLY, BERLIN 1933
Adolf Hitler, the Nazi party leader (who was undoubtedly he joined the German Workers’ Party, the precursor of the Nazi
a major behind the scenes promotor of gliding), was born April 20, Party, and was appointed leader in 1921. In 1923, he attempted
1889 and committed suicide at 56 years of age on April 30, 1945. to seize governmental power in a failed coup in Munich and was
He was an Austrian-born German politician (born in Braunau am imprisoned with a sentence of five years. After his early release
Inn, a town in Austria-Hungary in present-day Austria). in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty
of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, anti-Semitism and
He rose to power as the chancellor of Germany in 1933, then anti-communism frequently denouncing international capitalism.
as Führer in 1934. He initiated World War II in Europe invading
Poland on September 1, 1939. Central to the perpetration of the By November 1932, the Nazi Party had the most seats in the
Holocaust, he was declared responsible for the genocide of six German Reichstag but did not have a majority. He was appointed
million plus Jews. Germany’s chancellor on January 30, 1933. His first six years
in power resulted in rapid economic recovery from the Great
He moved from Austria to Germany in 1913 and was decorated Depression, restrictions imposed on Germany after World War I.
during his service in the German Army in World War I. In 1919, His invasion of Poland resulted in Britain and France declaring
4 Gliding International March 2021 5
“We
“We must learn from Germany”
much-needed pool of young pilots who had the knowledge, skills, and
spiritual readiness to fight Japan’s air wars. Studying Japan’s emerging
glider movement offers an opportunity to re-examine the mechanisms
This - from Japan, 1935.
technology transfer from Germany to Japan. Previous studies increased
knowledge about the transfer of cutting-edge technology during the
interwar and wartime years.
E
xploring the prominent role of Germany in the The Japanese eagerly adopted German know-how about the skilful
emergence of Japan’s pre world war II gliding arrangement of fabric, wire, and wood and built several thousand
boom, few appreciate that Japan actually had gliders based on German blueprints. In addition, the successful
a (then sophisticated) gliding development program nationwide diffusion of glider technology reveals the central role
in the mid 1930s. of an underlying ideology of “air-mindedness” that Japan readily
imported from Germany as well.
The Japanese extended an invitation to Germany’s
Wolf Hirth, the German the Japanese idealised. Seen here in the most German enthusiasm for gliders emerged in direct response to the
elite specialists to Japan which started a “glider
spectacular glider of the time - Berlin 1931 1919 Versailles settlement. When the German delegates signed the
fever” that enabled the Japanese military to forge
close bonds with the press and an air-minded Treaty of Versailles, they accepted substantial losses of territory
Japan’s failure to adopt the Fascist model. and heavy reparations payments. Part five of the treaty moreover
public. Developing a new concept of aviation
training unprovided an organisational blueprint required the destruction or surrender of all German military aircraft,
An analysis of the Japanese Army’s role in the cooperation with banned the production of aircraft, and prohibited all military flying.
for a comprehensive aviation education that Germany, provides evidence for substantial German influence in a
mobilised all aviation activities of Japanese youth wide variety of fields. Accounts of interwar business ties between
in the service of Japan’s national defence. Japanese Gliders, unpowered aircraft used by amateur pilots, were not
Japan and Germany emphasises the role of private enterprise. Visits included in the Versailles restrictions. Thus, facing the bleak
anxieties about the expansion of foreign air power of Hitler Youth representatives to Japan and their strong influence
thus were successfully channelled into a wave of prospect of the demise of German aviation, many Germans saw
on Japanese youth education shows the effect that the National glider flying as the only opportunity to keep alive in the 1920s. The
popular enthusiasm and participation that became Socialist leisure organisation (Kraft durch Freudeand) had on the
instrumental for Japan’s military buildup and Rhön, a region of rolling hills in central Germany, developed into
scene. a Mecca for gliding enthusiasts. German glider pilots created an
mobilisation.
impact on the Japanese recreation movement.
Jürgen Melzer, a former glider pilot and airline
captain set out to research this issue when he Germany founded the Akademische Fliegeruppe Darmstadt, in 1921, The influence of Nazi ideology on Japanese policies for establishing
the first of several Akafliegs associated with German universities. a “technocratic new order” provides valuable insight into the role
studied during a one-year stay at the University of
The concept captured the imagination of the Japanese as Darmstadt of engineers and the transfer of aero-engine technology. The
Tokyo - a project that was generously funded by the rapidly acquired a reputation for inventive glider design. As well as
Japan Foundation. technological assistance Japan received from Germany in the design
designing and building aircraft as part of their academic programme, of jet fighters and of rocket-propelled interceptors emphasised the
they started receiving orders from individuals and clubs. Sales brought
role of ideology and symbolism in technological choice.
By the early 1940s Japan had become a “nation of flyers.” More conclusion of the 1936 Anti-Comintern Pact. It calls into question welcome funds to the group. In 1928-9 Paul Laubenthal, then at the
than ten million school children were engaged in building model a widely held assumption about German-Japanese cooperation Akaflieg, designed a Darmstadt sailplane, which was a development
of an earlier Darmstadt glider named after the club. The new machine With a new flight technique known as “ridge soaring”, the Germans
aircraft, and tens of thousands of high school students actively as a story of conflicting interests, distrust, and false hopes that
was flown by Wolf Hirth and it was one of the most successful introduced the concept to the Japanese who used upward
practiced glider flying. At the same time, activities that had rendered the alliance ineffective and limited its strategic and
competitors at the 1929 Rhön glider contest. Named the Musterle and airstreams at a hill’s windward side. Further research led to the
started as playful or adventurous pursuits became serious efforts economic consequences.
built in Kassel, it was taken by Hirth to Japan and was the catylist that discovery of thermals to gain altitude. Henceforth, soaring was no
for national defence. A new taxonomy emerged: every sailplane
generated Japan’s immense interest in Gliding in the 1930s. longer limited to mountain ridges; and by skilfully using thermals,
became a “national defence glider,” and a Japanese schoolboy with
glider pilots could set out for long-distance flights of several
his model aircraft, Jürgen Melzer was no longer a boy with a toy but Hirth was the first to soar using blue sky thermals, thermals hundred kilometres.
a “wild eagle” aiming toward the “decisive battle in the sky.” Such unassociated with cumulus clouds.
state-sponsored air - was a transnational phenomenon, rooted
German glider activity in the 1920s and 1930s had important
in a new ideology that emerged after World War I. Strategists Musterle was a high, cantilever wing aircraft. Its wing, like the rest implications: it led to significant progress in aeronautical science
and military planners concluded that any future war would be of the aircraft, was wooden and covered with a mixture of plywood
and technology, stimulated military aviation, and promoted a
a total war requiring the mobilisation and control of a country’s and fabric. It was built around a single spar with ply covering from it
nationalistic air-mindedness. Ironically, these were precisely the
entire population and resources. Any distinction between military around the leading edge forming a torsion-resistant D-box. Behind the
spar the wing was mostly fabric covered. Musterle’s wing was mounted
fields the Allies had wanted to crack down on with their ban
combatants and civilian populations became meaningless, and the
over the fuselage on a low, ply covered pylon which blended into the on German aviation. German influence on the development of
struggles on the home front would be as decisive as those on the
fuselage and extended well behind the wing’s trailing edge, gradually Japanese glider flying was intense.
front lines.
decreasing in height. The fuselage was ply covered. Both the tall rudder
and elevators were all-moving and balanced, with straight edges and In 1930 the Nippon Guraidā Ku-rabu (‘Nippon Glider Club’) built a
The new doctrine profoundly transformed military and civil aviation.
Germany’s support of the Japanese Gliding movement (1930-45) was more rounded tips. This was “ground-breaking” new aircraft design! simple, open-cockpit glider based on the design of the German
The individualistic World War I fighter ace became an icon of a involved than most historians ever imagined. The German co-operation Zögling (‘pupil’) aircraft. In May 1930 Kataoka Bun-zaburō took off
bygone era. Aviation now had to become a mass movement that started with plans for the Zogling (SG28) shown here. The Zogling was Musterle had a landing skid under the forward fuselage, reaching back with the group’s glider from the Tokorozawa airfield and established
could count on the public’s enthusiasm, participation, and support. inexpensive and an ideal home build glider project for the exploading almost to the wing’s trailing edge, and a spring type tailskid. a new Japanese record with a five-second flight that covered a
New slogans emerged. Meanwhile, the Soviet Communist Party movement. distance of 80 metres.
launched nationwide campaigns to turn “peasants into pilots”. It is now easy to see how Japan’s fascination with what gliding had to
offer developed and why their involvment with Germany became such
In 1932 German-trained meteorologist Fuji-wara Sakuhei founded
Mussolini envisioned a Fascist aviation culture and in 1923 famously There is an argument that the Nazi government’s total control of a strong working relationship.
the Kirigamine Guraidā Kenkyūkai (‘Kirigamine Glider Research
insisted that “everyone must want to fly”; and in the 1930s German all German aviation activities had a profound impact on Japanese
Society’). The association was named after the location of its airfield
aviation minister Göring repeatedly pronounced that “the German aviation policies. Nazi Germany provided the organisation whilst
at Kirigamine, a mountain range in the Nagano prefecture about 150
people must become a nation of flyers.” Japan’s highly effective “social management” even blurred the
Gliders for Japan’s mass mobilisation and ideological blueprint for kilometres northwest of Tokyo. The region offered ideal conditions
distinction between wartime and peacetime mobilisation.
tying glider flying exclusively to the purpose of national defence, for glider flying and would soon to be called the “Japanese Rhön”.
So an examination of the rise of Japan’s popular air-mindedness
becomes high-lighted in the wake of the country’s alignment For the relationship between fascism and aviation, the phrase triggered the start of a model-aircraft movement as a means of
national aviation education. Gliders and model aircraft became Within a year, more than 400 flights had taken place at the
with Germany. Using new archival evidence, a fresh view on the “peasants into pilots” provided numerous studies which emphasised
suspectable effective tools for providing the Japanese military with a Kirigamine airstrip, which grew to be one of the centres of Japan’s
development of German-Japanese relations emerges after the the lack of Axis cooperation that lead into a detailed account of
6 Gliding International March 2021 7
glider activities. Kyushu Imperial University at Fukuoka became received close attention by the army and navy, the Communications meet the expenses of Wolf Hirth, the German leader of the sport The fuselage of the 703 was entirely ply skinned, tapering gently
another hotbed of Japan’s emerging glider movement. Together Ministry, and the General Staff Office. now dramatically rising in popularity in Germany. His tour of Japan from a blunt nose to the tail, and a balanced rudder which extended
with fifty students, Professor Satō Hiroshi founded the Kyūshū with two gliders and a tow plane generated imports of German down to the keel. The straight tapered tailplane, also largely fabric
Teikoku Daigaku. The developments in Russia also influenced the Japanese Army’s gliders, originated the manufacture of copies and eventually saw covered, was set forward of the fin and at the top of the fuselage,
air-defence strategy. The Army Ministry decided to significantly true Japanese designs evolve. The Maede 703, built by Kenichi so the elevators required only a small cut-out for the rudder to
The group’s successful glider design showed a strong German expand aerial armament and homeland air defence; however, the Maede, his engineering colleagues, Kimura and Kurahara, and with move in. The pilot sat upright just ahead of the wing’s leading edge
influence: a reproduction of a German glider, the Kyūtei 1, was used sudden need for more pilots and aircraft mechanics presented a academic input from Hiroshi Sato from Kyushu Imperial College, under a multi-piece canopy which merged into the aft fuselage.
in the group’s initial training sessions. problem as the training of these specialists would take several was one of the first of the latter.
years. Thus in 1933 the army began to extend its outreach toward The 703 had no landing wheel but just a sprung skid from the nose
Japanese youth. Young men between fifteen and nineteen were to to behind the cockpit, on the deepest part of the fuselage. It was
be recruited and trained as “the army’s young military aviators”. assisted by a tail bumper. Early tests beginning in 1940 revealed
good handling and performance.
The campaign was extremely successful, resulting in 11,000
applications in less than three weeks. The army’s flight school Development of the Japanese Maeda 703 was stopped by the
could accept only 170. This made the Japanese examine how spread of World War II to the Pacific, but not before Tadeo Kawabe
“technonationalism” was being driven by the constant anxiety had set a new national glider endurance record of 13 h 41m in
about the nation’s security. February 1941 in the second 703, A1606.
The army then decided to involve civilian organisations in training In 1945 all gliders in Japan, along with most in Germany, were
in order to develop a sufficiently large number of young pilots. destroyed by Allied forces. One of the new glider research section’s
As a first step, army officials turned toward the country’s major first decisions was to invite more German glider specialists to
newspapers. By the early 1930s the Japanese military could safely Japan. This approach to Germany reflected Japanese awareness
count on the cooperation of the press. With the start of the war with of German world leadership in gliding. Significantly, it happened
China, state control of the press had tightened. However the press at a time when Japanese-German relations were about to enter a
was far from being only a malleable tool. With the outbreak of the new stage as the two countries started preparations for the Anti-
Manchurian conflict, all major newspapers shrewdly participated Comintern Pact in summer 1935.
in the “news war” in their struggle to increase circulation. As a
Kyūtei 7 result the Japanese press enthusiastically praised the successes of The Maede 703 Japanese military diplomats in Berlin conducted the negotiations.
Japan’s military and urged readers to support “our young Japanese Having witnessed the official announcement of the new German air
Moreover, the much more sophisticated Kyūtei 7 was a close copy
soldiers suffering in the cold of Manchuria” (1932). force in March 1935, they were in close contact with the upper ranks
of the hugely successful German sailplane, the Grunau Baby. In Specifications - Maeda 703 of the Luftwaffe. Therefore, when Major Kondō began his search
early September 1935 the glider pilot Shizuru Tadao surprised General Characteristics
Several newspapers launched a highly effective donation campaign for a German glider expert to be invited to Japan, he could easily
the Japanese glider community with a spectacular new Japanese
for new aircraft that enabled the Japanese Army to substantially turn to his army colleagues in Germany. In June 1935 the Japanese
record, flying in a Kyūtei 7 for more than three hours. Crew: One
reinforce its air power. The press also played an important role Length: 6.70 m (22 ft 0 in) Army Ministry asked the Berlin-based army attaché Ōshima Hiroshi
in forging a close link between Japan’s air-minded youth and the Wingspan: 14.98 m (49 ft 2 in) to invite two German glider pilots to come to Japan together with
By the first half of the 1930s, glider flights in Japan had made
military. In the early 1920s most major Japanese papers had already Height: 1.10 m (3 ft 7 in) over cockpit their aircraft. Ōshima immediately started negotiations with the
considerable progress in several isolated locations, but the
established their own “aircraft divisions” for advertising and news Wing area: 14.3 m2 (154 sq ft) German Ministry of Aviation whereupon he received the answer
nationwide spread of Japan’s “glider fever” can be better understood
coverage. When army officials turned to the Asahi newspaper Aspect ratio: 15.7 that such a “gliding expedition” (Segelflugexpedition) could be
in the context of international developments. Airfoil: MKK3 (developed from NACA 64016
for its cooperation in establishing a new gliding association, they arranged for the following year.
found an enthusiastic ally with significant aeronautical expertise. by Maede, Kinushi and Kuahara )
Meanwhile - Japanese responses to Soviet aerial armaments in the Empty weight: 153 kg (337 lb) structure
The joint Asahi–Army enterprise resulted in the 1935 creation of a The attaché, however, insisted on the urgency of the matter; he
early 1930s exacerbated Japanese anxiety over Russian air power Gross weight: 230 kg (507 lb) maximum
glider section of the Nihon Gakusei Kōkū Renmei (‘Japan Students emphasised how Japanese-German relations would benefit from
which also dramatically increased. After the Japanese took over
Aviation League’), or Gakuren for short. Performance the project and offered the Japanese Army to not only cover the
Manchuria in 1931 and 1932, they became aware that their new
entire equipment cost but also pay each glider pilot a handsome
puppet state of Manchukuo was encircled by 30 Soviet air bases
With explicit reference to Germany, the army used the Gakurento Maximum glide ratio: 25.4:1 at 64.5 km/h salary of 2,400 yen for a two-month stay in Japan.
from which a Russian air force that was hugely superior in numbers
to build a “reserve flying corps.” For the army, Gakuren’s glider (40 mph; 34.8 kn)
could be quickly deployed. The development of a new type of Rate of sink: 0.63 m/s (124 ft/min) min
flying was an inexpensive way to provide early basic flight training The German Aviation Minister then agreed to dispatch two glider
Russian long-range bomber that could take off from Vladivostok at 55 km/h (34.2 mph; 29.7 kn)
and to identify talented future army pilots. The army even provided instructors together with three aircraft as early as September 1935,
and drop its bomb load over Japanese cities significantly added to Wing loading: 16.1 kg/m2 (3.3 lb/sq ft)
the Gakuren with military flight instructors who could then appoint a proposal that the Japanese government accepted “with great
the worries of Japan’s military planners. Landing speed: 43 km/h (26.7 mph; 23.2 kn
selected university students as “army pilot candidates” or even as joy.” As a next step, the ministry appointed the well-known glider
“army aviation commissioned officer candidates”. pilot Wolf Hirth as leader of the expedition. It even managed to
This new situation prompted Japanese officials to carefully follow
cover all travel expenses with a secret fund that was handed out via
the development of Soviet aviation. Their attention was not only The 703 was a wood framed aircraft covered with a mixture of
To place the glider movement on an even stronger foundation, the the Advertising Council of German Industry, which was controlled
drawn to the rapid progress in Russian aircraft technology and plywood and fabric. Its cantilever mid-mounted wing had a single
army procured the cooperation of two more major newspapers. by the Propaganda Ministry.
production numbers but also to the widespread emergence of a spar, and an associated D-box, skinned in plywood, formed the
When the Army Aviation Headquarters started negotiations
Soviet aviation ideology that could mobilise the public for a rapid leading edge. The wing was fabric covered behind the spar. The
with Osaka Mainichi and its affiliated company, Tokyo Nichinichi There was, however, one more obstacle to overcome before the
air-force expansion. leading edge was straight from root to tip, with slight sweep-back.
Shinbun, the army’s delegate declared the training of future army Japanese Army could summon a German aviation specialist.
From the root out almost to half-span, the wing tapered in plan
pilots to be a matter of “national defence.” They also referred to Because Japan had joined the Allied Powers in World War I, the
Japanese diplomats, engineers, and military officers were aware of only. Gently but further out, the trailing edge was entirely formed
the exemplary, well-organised aviation education in Germany that country was bound by the Treaty of Versailles not to employ
how the Soviets used gliders for training and for mobilising public by the aileron, the wing tapered more strongly to a rounded tip.
Japan should emulate. any Germans for military training or instruction. Yet Japan could
support. In May 1935 the Japanese ambassador to the Soviet Union
readily draw on its already-existing tradition of evading the treaty
Ōta Tamekichi reported an emerging “glider fever” that had already The NACA-derived airfoil provided a high maximum lift coefficient
In an obvious effort to catch up on government–press relations, regulations. Throughout the 1920s nearly all the major German
spread as far as Sakhal on the Russian island whose southern tip is and small pitching moments, and the wing had washout to avoid
an account of pressures by right-wing parties and reservist aircraft makers had sent their specialists to Japan to help build up
less than 50 kilometres away from Japanese territory. tip stall. There were Schempp-Hirth style airbrakes mounted on
associations on newspaper companies did not provide “sufficient a military aviation industry, a clear treaty violation that was backed
the rear of the spar in the central section, extending above and
support for Japan’s military activities”. by both governments.
He emphasised that all over the Soviet Union, the Russian below the wing. On the first two 703s the central sections were set
Aeronautical Defence Society was using gliders for the instruction with strong (6.5°) dihedral and the outer section with none, forming
Despite some well documented early history on Gliding in Japan To keep up appearances, therefore, the army conveniently let
of several thousand pilots and for the “diffusion of an aviation a gull wing. The third 703 had the same wing but with constant
(1924-1935), gliding attracted limited popular interest until the mid- the newspaper companies Tokyo Nichinichi Shinbun and Mainichi
ideology among ordinary people”. The ambassador’s report home dihedral from root to tip.
1930s, when a group of enthusiasts managed to find the funds to Shinbun invite Hirth, calling him an instructor for civil aviation. Hirth
8 Gliding International March 2021 9
himself was well aware that he had to avoid the spread of any future efforts in the development of gliders were to be directed importance the army attached to Hirth’s demonstrations and of the who was already known to the public as a record-breaking glider
“rumours about German-Japanese military arrangements” . away from achieving ever-longer flight times, as they had Wolf raised expectations faced by the visitor from Germany. Major Kondō pilot, went on a 3,000-kilometre flight from Tokyo via Sendai,
Hirth explaining vertical air currents at a lecture held for the Nippon led the small group of about a dozen handpicked army officers. By Aomori, Niigata, and Kanazawa to Osaka and then completed a
In his 1938 autobiography Hirth gave only a vague account of the Hansō Renmei (‘Nippon Glider Federation’) in Tokyo in October 1935. letting the Japanese officers use the German aircraft, Hirth was 1,500- kilometre Osaka–Hiroshim – Fukuoka – Kumamoto – Beppu
origins of his invitation to Japan. There he reported that in 1935 he able to teach them the skills of glider towing, ridge soaring, and the – Shikoku – Osaka circuit. These tours effectively promoted the
had received a phone call from Ernst Udet, a former World War I advanced technique of thermal flight. idea of glider flying, particularly as Shizuru performed stunning
fighter ace and then a colonel in the newly founded Luftwaffe. Udet acrobatics with his glider in numerous places. To further advance
informed Hirth that “influential persons in Japan had asked for the The trainees’ ambition, discipline, and rapid progress earned the the idea of glider flying, the two newspapers organised Japan’s first
dispatch of a distinguished pilot” . praise of their teacher. While Hirth’s lectures and training targeted lecture course on gliders in August of the same year.
only a selected audience, his public flight shows impressed the
Habuto Fumio, the then head of Mainichi’s aircraft section, was masses. His first performance on October 26 received an exhilarated Members of 23 glider organisations participated in the program. One
more straightforward. Much later, in a 1962 interview, he admitted press report under the headline “Vertical loops with a glider: Just month later Japan’s first National Glider Competition at Kirigamine
that Mainichi had helped to evade the Versailles treaty regulations what you would expect from the king of glider pilots.” Without attracted more than 100 pilots. Asahi Shinbun acted as the event’s
but also emphasised that “all the money came from the army.” any sound he flew into the blue sky. Suddenly, at an altitude of main sponsor with the support of the Communications Ministry and
less than 100 metres he demonstrated a loop. The audience, who the Imperial Aeronautic Association. All these activities showed
The interviewer asked in conclusion, “So was Mainichi used by the had been thinking that only a motor-powered aircraft could do this, clear results.
army?” Habuto’s impish answer, “No, we [Mainichi] used the army,” gaped in amazement. Then effortlessly, as if the glider was his own
is yet more evidence of how the press could cleverly exploit an body, Hirth made a perfect landing. By 1937 Japan could take pride in its 67 glider organisations and
army-sponsored event for its own purposes. (Has anything changed 120 sailplanes. In the years 1937 and 1938 glider enthusiasm spread
in the 21st century?) The air was filled with admiring voices: “Marvellous!” One week to the Japanese territories of Manchuria, Korea, and Taiwan. After
later thousands of spectators made the trip to the Haneda airfield the conclusion of the 1936 Anti-Comintern Pact when German-
The choice of Wolf Hirth was a good one. With his steel-rimmed fifteen kilometres south of Tokyo to witness the flying skills of the Japanese relations became even closer, Japanese studies of Nazi
glasses and boyish smile he did not fit the stereotype of a daredevil “King of Glider Pilots”. Once more Hirth impressed his audience Germany and its organisations intensified.
airman, yet he was already a pilot of considerable talent and with his glider aerobatics, especially his vertical loops performed
international experience. In 1931 Hirth was the first glider pilot at a low altitude, an extremely risky flight manoeuvre that left no As a result German influence on Japan regarding how to gain
to be awarded the German Silver C badge for his aeronautical margin for error. After his impressive flight demonstration, Hirth public support for the buildup of a national air power became even
accomplishments. Before his visit to Japan he had already gained was surrounded by an excited crowd that he feared would damage stronger. The National Socialists’ successful promotion of their
international fame for his sustained glider flights over New York and his aircraft. Hirth’s activities commanded widespread admiration version of air-mindedness impressed Japanese officials, and the
for his participation with a glider of his own design in an expedition even among the highest echelons of the government. number of Japanese “inspection teams” to Germany increased. One
to South America. important visit was that of a group of six high-ranking Japanese
On December 12, 1935, three days before Hirth’s return to Germany, military officers who investigated all aspects of German aviation.
With all diplomatic and financial questions settled, Hirth together Prime Minister Okada Keisuke awarded the German glider pilot The group submitted its classified “Report of the Aviation Inspection
with the pilot Karl Baur and the assistant Hans Stolz left Berlin the Order of the Sacred Treasure. The exchange of official notes Team” upon its return in spring 1937. It is an important document
for the long train ride across the Soviet Union on September 17, that preceded this event showed the high aspirations that Hirth’s because it drew the army’s attention to the education of an air
1935. The group’s official contract, signed with the Nippon Glider activities had stirred in the military. Both the Army Ministry and the minded German youth.
Federation, was to spend two months training eight Japanese Foreign Minister praised Hirth for training Japanese pilots in “all
pilots and several students to become glider instructors. Hirth aspects of flight techniques” and for providing new perspectives on The Japanese group was impressed with how the German
brought with him one “school glider” (Schulgleiter) for basic flight the military use of gliders. Prime Minister Okada expressed approval government and military not only promoted the physical education
training, one glider suitable for acrobatic performances, and one of Hirth’s transfer of know-how about the design and production of of its youth with regard to the country’s aviation but also aroused
“gull-winged,” high performance sailplane. gliders. young people’s interest in aviation from early childhood on (Ōshima
The photograph conveys the official character of these events, with the
flags in the background symbolising the close relations between the and Sugawara 1937). With this information at hand, the Army
A single-engined Klemm 25 for towing the gliders was shipped to two countries. Courtesy of Deutsches Segelflugmuseum mit Modellflug. Within a mere two months, Hirth had “conveyed all his skills, Aviation Headquarters decided to follow the German model very
Japan as well. The four aircraft were purchased by the Japanese opened new fields, and established a foundation for progress.” closely. As a first step they aimed to foster and unify aviation
Army, which in turn “loaned” them to the Mainichi newspaper, which The Japanese press joined the laudations. An enthusiastic Mainichi enthusiasm among Japanese youth and put it into the service of
then assigned them to the Nippon Glider Federation. Soon after According to commentators, Hirth profoundly impressed his journalist ended up revealing that secret agreement: “Hirth went national defence.
the group’s arrival in Tokyo on October 2, an intense program of audience, among them top-level officers of the Japanese Army who back to Germany with the honour of having accomplished every
lectures, flight training, and flight demonstrations began. eagerly welcomed Hirth’s forth-right vision. aspect of his mission that was assigned to him by the Army Aviation Gliding, which had started as a pure amateur sport carried out by
Headquarters”. aviation enthusiasts, came under the tight control of the government
Two of Hirth’s numerous presentations were especially inspiring to and the military. In early 1937 the Army Aviation Headquarters
his military audience. In a lecture held in German, Hirth emphasised went ahead with its project to establish a “second air force” of
the important role of German student flight groups associated with
The Spread Of “Glider Fever” and the young people defending the skies of the fatherland. For this the
technical universities (technische Hochschulen). He pointed out Creation of a Second Air Force headquarters ensured the cooperation of the Communications
that many of these groups were receiving state funding for their Ministry and also joined forces with the Imperial Aeronautic
research into the design and construction of gliders as well as test While it took the Japanese Army several years to consider and Association and the All Japan Youth League. The four institutions
flights. put into practice Hirth’s proposals, Hirth’s impact on the Japanese founded the Dai Nippon Seinen Kōkūdan (‘Greater Japan Youth Air
public was much more immediate and widespread. According to an Corps’).
In return these groups provided the newly created German exchange of notes between German diplomats, Hirth had become
Luftwaffe with a large pool of highly qualified young engineers who the “most popular German in Japan”. Soon after Hirth’s return, The Japanese slogan “young people defending the skies of our
had considerable practical experience in building and flying glider Japan’s tactical use of military gliders in October 1943 was Japan’s fatherland” left no doubt about the military orientation of the new
aircraft. In another lecture given exclusively to Japanese Army first glider transport squadron set up under the advice of Major Youth Air Corps; neither did the date of its official establishment
officers, Hirth was even more franker still about new military uses Furubayashi, who had been trained eight years earlier by Wolf (March 1937), the 32nd Army Commemoration. But in an important
of gliders. He envisioned gliders that would drop bombs and then Hirth. Furthermore, by the end of May 1945 the Imperial Japanese move, the founders of the Youth Air Corps persuade the 75-year-old
safely return to their home bases as well as large scale transport Navy used gliders to train around 1,500 reserve students for suicide General Inoue Ikutarō to become the association’s leader. Inoue,
Hirth getting ready for an aerobatic performance in his Gö 1 glider.
gliders that could be used for silently flying troops behind enemy missions. Lectures were being held all over the country and a “glider who was also the president of the Imperial Military Reservists’
lines at night. fever” gripped the nation. Association, was well known as the “Father of Army Aviation” for
Nearly one week of Hirth’s stay was devoted to glider training for his merit in the early buildup of the Japanese Army Air Force. His
(The Silver C badge was a prize awarded to glider pilots who carried army officers at the Ueda airfield, about 30 kilometres south of the From May to June 1936 the Nippon Glider Federation and the two inaugural speech highlighted the strong military motives behind the
out a glider flight of more than five hours - that covered more than city of Nagano. The large number of high-ranking military personnel newspapers, Osaka Mainichi and Tokyo Nichinichi, organised two Youth Air Corps’s promotion of glider flying among young Japanese.
50 kilometres and had an altitude gain of 1,000 metres.) Therefore, patiently waiting in the background gives evidence of the high “around-Japan” tours. Towed by a motor aircraft, Shizuru Tadao, After expressing his worries about the rapid spread of “aviation
10 Gliding International March 2021 11
ideology” among Soviet youth, Inoue turned directly to his main only receive flight training but should also learn how to build their
concern. The general emphasised that “the progress of Japanese GRUNAU 9 own basic gliders. Therefore the Education Ministry, together with
military aviation for frontline operations was vital. However, a the Imperial Aeronautic Association, in August 1938 sponsored
second frontline that carried out the tasks at the home front was the first month-long course on glider building for teachers from
also extremely important”. Inoue expressed his belief that the technical colleges and secondary schools.
Greater Japan Youth Air Corps would provide the best facilities
for flight training and would fulfill his wish that in the future all The Education Ministry’s efforts to take glider flying to the schools
young Japanese men would be able to fly aircraft or gliders so were influenced most decisively by Germany. The ministry had
that they could defend their country in the case of emergency. The sent Professor Satō Hiroshi to the Technische Universität Berlin to
Communications Ministry, in charge of Japan’s civil aviation since study aircraft design for two years. After his return in 1939, Satō
1923, further tightened control over nonmilitary flying by making a submitted a detailed report about Germany’s emerging glider and
move similar to the Nazi government’s 1937 enforced conformity of model aircraft movement.
all German aviation activities.
At one stage the Japanese decided that the Grunau 9, a German Satō had witnessed how the German Air Sports Association had
BUT HISTORICALLY EARLIER - During the Russo-Japanese single seat trainer glider, would fulfil their plans for a basic been dissolved and replaced by the National Socialist Flyers Corps.
War, the Imperial Japanese Army used two Japanese- primary glider. The Reich Air Ministry’s total control and management of Germany’s
designed kite balloons during the Siege of Port Arthur. They aviation sport impressed Satō. For him, it became clear that the
made 14 successful flights. It was Japan’s first combat use It was developed by Edmund Schneider from Alexander main purpose of the NSFC was to promote Germany’s model aircraft
of military aviation of any kind. At Vladivostok, Imperial Lippisch’s Djävlar Anamma (German: Hols der Teufel, English: This . . . the Goppingen Go-1 was the first production sailplane and glider movement in order to build up “Germany’s second air
Russian Army engineer Captain Fyodor A. Postnikov and his to the Devil with it) via the Espenlaub primary. The Grunau 9 was from the new Schempp-Hirth factory partnership. Aided with force.” In his outline of German aviation education, Satō explained
produced in large numbers and widely sold. funding from the governments of Germany and Japan, Wolf Hirth
crews made frequent ascents in spherical balloons and a kite the systematic approach of the National Socialists to prepare the
was determined to solidify the relationship that already existed
balloon from Russian ships. The armored cruiser Rossia tested German youth for future air battles.
The core of the flat frame fuselage was formed with a horizontal between the two countries. He appreciated why the primary glider
various forms of air-sea communications from balloons and was serving a purpose - generating gliding interest and creating
the use of shipboard balloons for directing gunfire against beam about 2 m (6 ft 7 in) long, to which two other converging Eleven year old German students were making simple paper planes
new future war-time pilots, but true soaring as he knew it, was
shore targets and in detecting naval mines. struts were attached, making overall a vertical A-frame. The almost beyond the scope of Japan’s existing fleet of primary and at fifteen they were building model aircraft based on their own
downward sloping extremities of these beams carried a slightly gliders. original design. By then they had considerable knowledge of the
In September 1940 the ministry announced the “unification” of all deeper horizontal box structure below the cross beam, with the steering system, structure, and instruments of real aircraft.
Japanese civil aviation organisations. Prior to 1945 Japan held the open pilot’s seat and controls upon it. On some later aircraft Hirth’s 1935 visit to Japan, saw him ship two Göppingen Gö 1
Army Commemoration Day each year to celebrate the victory of there was an extra vertical member for the lower cross beam to gliders together with a tow plane as well. The Go-1 (above) was At sixteen they began building and flying gliders for which their
the Imperial Japanese Army against the Russian Manchurian Army the wing root to provide the pilot with a backrest. For landings a a single-seat sailplane produced in Germany. It was designed by knowledge and experience gained from model aircraft was very
at the Battle of Mukden in 1905. Okumura Kiwao, an influential skid ran between three projecting ends of the forward and lower Martin Schempp and Wolf Hirth their first commercially produced useful. Outstanding students attended the National Glider Building
bureaucrat at the Communications Ministry, admired Nazi Germany A-frame. glider. School and the National Glider Flight School. This organisational
for its state-sponsored mass organisations. blueprint was important because it lent itself to being copied
Conceived as a rival to the Grunau Baby, it was the first product
The Grunau 9 had almost rectangular, two spar, wooden by the officials of the Japanese education system. The NSFC’s
of the newly formed Sportflugzeugbau Göppingen firm. It
Gliders for Japan’s mass mobilisation League, (the Japan structured, two piece wings with fabric covering everywhere was a conventional, strut-braced high-wing design of wooden curriculum also demonstrated how to indoctrinate young people
Glider Federation, and the Greater Japan Youth Air Corps) were except the leading edges, which were plywood covered. Short, construction, incorporating a wheel aft of the loaded centre of with a nationalistic air-mindedness from a very early age.
“voluntarily” dissolved and put under the umbrella of the Dai simple rectangular, cropped ailerons reached to the square wing gravity to ease ground handling, as well as aero-tow and winch
Nippon Hikō Kyōkai (‘Greater Japan Aeronautic Association’). The tips. They were attached to the upper fuselage beam with their launches. The German model had considerable impact on the Japanese
new association was in charge of promoting and disseminating leading edges at the forward sloping member and a chord wise education system. In February 1939 the Education Ministry set up a
“aviation ideology” through radio and print media and by organising gap between their roots. Each wing was braced with a pair of Of very similar construction to the Grunau Baby, Wolf had strut- committee to draft a unified national curriculum for glider training. In
flight shows all over Japan. landing wires from the apex of the A-frame to the upper wing braced high-set monoplane wings supported on a pylon aft of the the curriculum the ministry’s rhetoric strikingly resembled both the
at outboard points on the forward and aft spars and by pairs of cockpit. The hexagonal-section fuselage was constructed largely tone and content of similar declarations by the NSFC. The purpose
The Greater Japan Aeronautic Association was responsible for flying wires from below the wing to the lower horizontal A-frame of wood with plywood skinning and the wings and tail surfaces of glider training is to develop a spirit of undivided cooperation
the glider training of Japanese youth and for the nationwide were plywood-skinned back to the main spars with wooden- among students, to train their minds and bodies, and to improve
member. There were also bracing wires from the wing rear spars
establishment of glider groups. Under their control, glider flying framed fabric-covering the rear portions. their physical condition. The training cultivated an aviation ideology
to the tail to retrain its lateral movement.
in Japan underwent another transformation. Gliding was no longer and aimed to put scientific knowledge into practical use.
Stressed for aerobatics, it gained a reputation for dangerous
considered a sport but an activity solely devoted to national defence. A triangular tailplane was mounted on the upper, horizontal spinning characteristics, which resulted in the Gö-1 being
Even the designation of aircraft changed, with every sailplane fuselage beam with the elevator hinge in line with the rudder’s. grounded in 1938, pending incorporation of a modification, longer- Students respect rules, gladly obey orders, respect the common
becoming a “national defence glider”. With the mitralisation of The rectangular elevators therefore required a cut-out for rudder chord and slotted ailerons. The cost of the required modifications interest, and willingly take responsibility. Acquiring these good
glider activities the army increasingly offered advanced glider movement; like the rudder and tailplane, the elevators were proved uneconomic for the majority of owners and a large number habits would also be useful for their daily lives. Furthermore, glider
training at its own airfields. fabric covered. A fin was provided by fabric covering the near of Gö-1s never flew again. Only three are known to have survived instruction lets students understand the essentials of national
triangular area of the rear fuselage between the rudder hinge, the in museums. One is still operational in Germany. It first flew defence. They learnt especially the importance of aviation for
At various training camps young pilots received instruction in upper and lower beams and the diagonal between them. in 1935. Its name is derived from the name Moazagotl given to national defence, and realised the value of their glider training to
advanced acrobatics and were even taught the basics of instrument lenticularis clouds caused by the foehn winds in the Sudetenland. Japan’s security. It revealed parallels to Nazi education: physical
flight that enabled them to fly in cloud. Gliders had become an The Grunau 9 first flew in 1928. The following year, Schneider exercise, paramilitary training, and the rearing of patriotic subjects
effective means for sharpening the flight skills of future military The Japanese public were enthralled with Wolf Hirth. He was who were ready and willing to fight for their country. Satō’s account
made changes to the tail and introduced a new and (it turned out) lauded wherever he went. His aerobatic displays enhanced his
pilots. temporary naming convention involving the year, redesignating appears in a four-volume report about the US and European aviation
reputation no end - a display that every Japanese youth wanted to industry that was published by the Japanese aircraft manufacturer
it as the ESG 29, though it was not a unique name. After its emulate. Wolf was on a roll, producing a scene, the like of which
-Kawanishi (1939).
Following The German Model formation in 1933, the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug had never previously been seen possible.
(DFS) gave it the type number DFS 108-10. The positioning of
The spinning problems with the Go-1 led to the introduction of The ministry distributed the new curriculum to each local
Glider flying emerged into Japan’s schools in the late 1930s, and a wooden strut immediately in front of the pilot’s head led to
the gull-wing Minimoa. Hirth’s subsequent visit to Japan saw him government. The glider pilots, Matsushita Benji and Kojima Yasuo,
the Japanese glider movement had entered a new stage when yet the type being nicknamed the Schädelspalter, or skullsplitter. In
take a Minimoa with him and which was an even more successful were put in charge of glider training at all Japanese schools. By
another powerful government agency lent its strong support. production over several years, large numbers were built and sold
opera - it solidified the marriage of the two country’s aviation March 1939 approximately 150 secondary schools and technical
widely over several years.
interests. The Minimoa quickly established several new records, colleges had glider groups; by the end of the year this number had
In February 1938 the Education Ministry informed all local governors
including the world altitude record of 6,687 m (21,939 ft) in 1938 in nearly tripled, with groups at more than 400 schools. Three years
about its plan to encourage glider training at secondary schools. As At least one Dutch registered Grunau 9 remained active after a thunderstorm. Richard du Pont and Chet Decker flew Minimoas later, 700 of the 2000 secondary schools for young men practiced
a first step glider courses for schoolteachers were to be held all World War II. to win the U.S. Championships in 1937 and 1938. glider training. To further unify flight training at schools, the
over Japan. The ministry then decided that students should not
Education Ministry even designated a standard glider type.
12 Gliding International March 2021 13
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