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(1885 - 1963)

 

The first airplane flight in Japan was likely on 29 April 1891, when a propeller-driven unmanned plane took off and flew about 10 meters at a height of one meter and 36 meters at a height of six meters the following day. The plane's inventor was Tyuuhaci Ninomiya, known as a genius of kite-making in his neighborhood.

The airplane was called "Crow Type Flying Machine" and was a monoplane with a tail similar to that of a crow, 61 centimeters long and 59 centimeters wide with a three-wheel landing gear and a four-blade propeller driven by twisted rubber strings.

After the success of this model airplane, Ninomiya tried to develop a manned airplane and wrote a letter to the Japanese Army for support, but his request was denied. When he learned of the success of the Wright Brothers, he was discouraged and never returned to the aviation field, even though he received a letter of apology from the Japanese Army.

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Yves Le Prieur in Japan, 1909

The first human flight in Japan was made on 5 December 1909 in a glider. The machine was invented by Yves Paul Gaston Le Prieur, an attaché of the French Embassy in Tokyo, and Lt. Shirou Aibara of the Japanese Navy. A boy flew onboard their biplane with a box-type tail. The plane was 6.8 meters long and 7.2 meters wide and had 4-wheel landing gear. It flew 15 meters at a height of four meters on 5 December 1909 after a ground run by the power of several people. Five days later, Le Prieur took off with a ground run pulled by an automobile and flew about 100 meters.

The first flight of a Japanese-made powered airplane was made on 5 May 1911. The plane was designed and built by Sanji Nagahara, a Japanese Navy engineer and was 10 meters long, 9.2 meters wide, and equipped with a 50-horsepower Gnome engine. It flew approximately 60 meters on 5 May 1911. Because its flying quality was so stable, it flew to many cities throughout Japan for demonstrations.

 

Le Prieur Rockets (Fusées Le Prieur)

April 1916: French employed first air-to-air combat rockets, four Le Prieur rockets attached to each strut of Nieuport fighter. The Belgian, Willy Coppens, and Briton, Albert Ball, reportedly also used rockets effectively against German balloons until incendiary bullets were developed .

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Le Prieur Rockets, Nieuport 11?, Cachy, France, 1916	Le Prieur Rockets, Nieuport 11	Testing Le Prieur Rockets
Le Prieur Rockets, Nieuport 11	Le Prieur Rockets, Farman HF 20/21	Charles Nungesser

The first balloon-busters fired Le Prieur Rockets which were introduced by the French during the Verdun fighting of 1916. Incendiary bullets replaced rockets beginning in 1917 .

Additional armament on the Sopwith Pup included Le Prieur rockets which were carried on the interplane struts, four per wing .

Le Prieur rockets were electrically fired at balloons. Inaccurate, they forced pilots to fly within 125 yds. of their target. This range [barely] allowed the pilot to fire and to pull up to avoid collision with the balloon.

Le Prieur rockets - Allied ammunintion commonly used against balloons. Four to a batch on a wing, fired by electricity. Plane must be about 150 yds. away for success.

 

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Nieuport 17 : At the Zenith
 

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Capitaine Georges Guynemer with Capitaine Yves Le Prieur

In the circumstances a remarkably cheerful, Capitaine Georges Guynemer (1894 - 1917) holds a piece of the propeller which broke up following a mechanical failure.

To his left is sous-lieutenant La Tour to his right lieutenant Heurtaux. In naval uniform (on the far right), is Le Prieur, who devised the rocket and scourge of the German balloon line which bore his name.

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Capitaine Georges Guynemer

 

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The Nocturnal Defense of Great Britain in the First World War
First steps, 1914-1916
 

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Le Prieur Rockets fitted to a BE 12, 50 Sqdn., Dover, UK, 1916

In the hopes of alleviating this difficulty, the British investigated a series of weapons that would, it was hoped, carry the bomb's destructive charge up to the airship from below. Rockets, recoiless rifles, and cannon were all tried.

From 1915 to at least 1917, British authorities viewed the French Le Prieur rocket as an ideal anti-airship weapon, despite its many operational deficiencies. The weapon had been used with success against stationary observation balloons on the western front, and contemporary fighters could carry 8 to 10 of them in tubes attached to their interplane struts.

The Le Prieur weapons looked exactly like large bottle rockets and worked on the same principle, igniting balloons much as bottle rockets ignite roofs today. The large black-powder charge was extremely effective once it hit a lighter-than-air craft. Unfortunately, in the home-defense role, that never happened.

To have any chance of a hit, the pilot had to get unrealistically close to the Zeppelin, and he still had to be above it. With the added weight and drag of the rocket installation, this was even less likely than it had been with bombs. No airship was ever downed by a rocket.