Yokosuka E14Y
The Yokosuka E14Y was an Imperial Japanese Navy reconnaissance seaplane transported aboard and launched from Japanese submarine aircraft carriers, such as the during World War II. The Japanese Navy designation was "Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane".
Operational history
The E14Y was used for several Japanese reconnaissance missions during the Pacific War.On 26 February 1942, the Japanese submarine I-25, under the command of Captain Akiji Tagami, was off the northern tip of King Island in Bass Strait off the coast of Victoria, Australia, when an E14Y was launched on a reconnaissance flight over the Port of Melbourne. The pilot and observer/gunner were in the air for three hours, during which time they successfully flew over Port Phillip Bay and observed the ships at anchor off Melbourne before returning to land on its floats beside the submarine, where it was winched aboard and disassembled.
The E14Y is the only Japanese aircraft to overfly New Zealand during World War II. On 8 March 1942, Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita photographed the Allied build-up in Wellington harbour in a "Glen" launched from the Japanese submarine I-25. On 13 March, he flew over Auckland, before the I-25 proceeded to Australia. On the night of 24/25 May, Warrant Officer Susumo Ito flew a "Glen" over Auckland from the Japanese submarine I-21. Just days later, in the same aircraft, Ito flew the reconnaissance flight preceding the sole Japanese attack on Sydney Harbour in which twenty-one seamen were killed when sank on 1 June 1942.
Type A1 submarine I-9 was caught off the New Zealand coast in early 1943; however, no Japanese aircraft were observed, and any records of overflights were lost when the submarine was sunk.
The E14Y also has the distinction of being the only submarine-based aircraft to drop bombs on the United States during World War II, in an incident known as The Lookout Air Raid. On 9 September 1942, Chief Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita, a pilot in the Japanese Imperial Navy, and his crewman, Petty Officer Shoji Okuda, surfaced in submarine I-25 off the coast of Oregon near Brookings. The seaplane had folding wings and was transported in a watertight capsule attached to the deck of the submarine. The bombs – 76 kg incendiaries intended to cause forest fires – caused no injuries or real damage.
A total of 126 E14Ys were produced.