Focke-Wulf Fw42 bomber

The Fw42 was a design for a canard – equipped twin-engine bomber. Various revi­sions of the design were made with wind tunnel models undergoing testing from 1932 to 1933. Once the final revision was settled, a full scale mock-up was built. The Japanese were invited to review the mock-up, Focke – Wulf hoping to entice sales of the bomber or licence rights. The Japanese showed no inter­est and the Fw42 was soon cancelled.

Focke-Wulf Fw200S-l

Announced with a major publicity stunt, the Fw200S-l ‘Brandenburg’ took off for Japan from Berlin, Germany, on 28 November 1938 and arrived in Tokyo in a little under 48 hours. The Japanese were impressed by the Fw200 and early in 1939 the Dai Nippon Kabushiki Kaisha (Japan-Manchuria Aviation Company) contracted Focke-Wulf for five Fw200B Con­dors. Attached to this was an order for a sin­gle Fw200B for the UN as a maritime reconnaissance aircraft. However, with the outbreak of the war in Europe, none of these orders were fulfilled. The Allies felt, with good reason, that Japan would soon be using the Fw200 and gave it the codename Trudy.

Hansa-Brandenburg float plane

Four were built between 1925 and 1926 as the Aichi Type 15-ko Mi-go. Based on the German plane, Aichi refined the design but failed to win the Navy’s competition for a reconnais­sance seaplane and so work ceased.

Hansa-Brandenburg W 33 float plane

As part of reparations from World War 1, Ger­many sent Japan a single W 33 float plane. Highly impressed with the W 33, the UN requested a copy which resulted in the Type Hansa. 310 were built and served with the IJN from 1926 to 1928 before being retired; many were converted to passenger float planes for civilian use.