Yoshitoshi Tokugawa

Infobox Military Person
name= Yoshitoshi Tokugawa
lived= 24 July 1884 – 17 April 1963
placeofbirth= Tokyo, Japan
placeofdeath= Tokyo, Japan


caption=General Yoshitoshi Tokugawa
nickname=
allegiance= Empire of Japan
branch=
serviceyears= 1903-1945
rank= Lieutenant General
commands= Tokorozawa Army Aviation School, Akeno Army Aviation School
unit=
battles=
awards=Order of the Rising Sun, 1st class
laterwork=

Lieutenant General Baron nihongo|Yoshitoshi Tokugawa|徳川 好敏|Tokugawa Yoshitoshi|extra=24 July 1884 – 17 April 1963 was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and one of the pioneers of military aviation in Japan.

Biography

Tokugawa Yoshitoshi was the son of Count Tokugawa Atsumori (1856-1924) (head of the Shimizu branch of the Tokugawa clan). He graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1903, after having specialized in military engineering.

In 1909, Tokugawa was sent as a military attaché to France, specifically to study aeronautical engineering and military applications for the use of aircraft in combat. He purchased a Farman MF.7 biplane, which he shipped back to Japan. On 19 December 1910, Tokugawa flew Japan's first successful powered aircraft flight at Yoyogi Parade Ground where Tokyo's Yoyogi Park is now located, only seven years after the Wright Brothers flight in the United States.

Tokugawa, together with General Hino Kumazo promoted the new technology to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff and helped establish the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service.

On April 23, 1911, Tokugawa set a Japanese record with a Blériot, flying 48 miles in 1 hour 9 minutes 30 seconds.

Tokugawa led the 2nd Air Battalion, was Commanding Officer of the 1st Air Regiment, and was General Officer Commanding the Army Aviation Corps three times through the 1920s and 1930s. He served as Director of the Training Department in the Tokorozawa Army Aviation School, as Commandant of the same school and the Akeno Army Aviation School, and was later attached to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff. Tokugawa came to be known in Japan as "the Grandfather of Flight" [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,826700-2,00.html] Time Magazine]

He was in the active reserve and was recalled for command of the Imperial Army Aviation School in 1945, before finally retiring.

References

Books

*cite book
last = Boyne
first = Walter
coauthors =
year = 1997
title = CLASH OF WINGS: World War II in the Air
publisher = Simon & Schuster
location =
id = ISBN: 0684839156
*cite book
last = Hallion
first = Richard P
authorlink=Richard_P._Hallion
coauthors =
year = 2003
title = Taking Flight: Inventing the Aerial Age, from Antiquity through the First World War
publisher = Oxford University Press
location =
id = ISBN: 0195160355
*cite book
last = Yoshimura
first = Akira
coauthors =
year = 1996
title =　Zero Fighter
publisher = Praeger Trade
location =
id = ISBN: 0275953556

External links

* [http://www.rcooper.0catch.com/etokugaw.htm The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Air Forces, Alvin Coox]
* [http://www.earlyaviators.com/etokugaw.htm Yoshitoshi Tokugawa, early aviator]
* http://www.rcooper.0catch.com/etokugaw.htm

Notes