page_title: Mizuno Shinryu
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Mizuno Shinryu / Development
caption_attribution_description: Mizuno Jinryu glider during takeoff. Jinryu 'Lord Dragon' is the only glider plane produced by Mizuno.
context_page_description: The Mizuno Shinryū/Jinryū was a late-World War II Japanese rocket-powered interceptor. While the Jinryū was still in development, Mizuno began to develop an interceptor which both the Army and Navy air force were in desperate need of to fend off the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. When Japan surrendered to the Allies on 15 August 1945, all aircraft that were under development were stopped, including the Jinryū & Shinryū II. The Shinryū II was the second aircraft developed in Japan to use a canard design, after the Kyushu J7W Shinden.
context_section_description: In June 1944, the first Boeing B-29 Superfortresses appeared over Japan. It was the start of bombing campaign that would see key Japanese cities, infrastructure and industries reduced to ashes through conventional and firebombing raids. With the aircraft industry being a priority target, the Imperial Japanese Navy Aviation Bureau (海軍航空本部, Kaigun Koku Hombu) looked to ways to combat the B-29 menace. One concept was a point defence interceptor that could quickly rise to meet the bombers and so the Mizuno Shinryū was born. However, the development of the Shinryū began with designs for a far more conventional craft.
  In November 1944, the Navy Aviation Bureau looked into the possibilities of an aircraft to undertake suicide missions (神風, shinpu). While the mission was not unique, the fact that the aircraft being investigated would be a glider was. The Bureau envisioned that gliders would be launched with rocket boosters from caves or shore positions and pilots would guide the aircraft and the 100 kg (220 Ib) explosive payload inside it into Allied ships or tanks should the Japanese home islands be invaded. The Bureau  assigned the Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal (海軍航空技術廠, Kaigun Kōkū Gijutsu-shō) at Yokosuka the task of turning the glider into reality. The project was led by Shigeki Sakakibara who staffed a number of teams that would each be responsible for one part of the glider. The different sections were the wings, the fuselage, control surfaces, aerodynamic testing and test flights once the prototype was complete. The Navy Aviation Bureau gave instructions that the glider must be built from as much wood as possible.
  This restriction was imposed for two reasons. The first was that in using wood and keeping the use of metal to an absolute minimum, the glider could be manufactured in any small shop using only wood working tools, and secondly, as a consequence, what metals were available would be conserved for other military uses. Much of the glider's design was conceived by Yoshio Akita. A number of concepts were discussed and sketched and after much deliberation among Akita and his teams the design was complete by May 1945, and the Mizuno Corporation, a small glider manufacturer better known for sports equipment, had almost finished the prototype.
  The glider was very simple and used a high-wing monoplane form. The straight and flat wings were wide but had a short span and were designed to ensure that the glider was easy to handle given that inexperienced pilots would be at the controls. Also, the platform would be able to accommodate the rocket engines that were to be used to boost the glider into the air. The pilot sat in an open cockpit. The design was sent to the Navy Aviation Bureau for review. Sakakibara studied the plans and projections and after his analysis it was felt the glider was flawed and changes were necessary.
  After these had been made the design was approved. Work began on the revised Jinryū, as the glider was now called, by the middle of June 1945. To hasten the construction, the finalised blueprints and work plans for the Jinryū were drawn up even as the components for the first prototype were being built. Construction of the Jinryū was again given to Mizuno. Working around the clock, the company completed two prototypes with such speed that wind tunnel testing of the design was still underway. In fact, the first flight of the Jinryū occurred even before the results of the testing had been provided to Tonsho and Sakakibara. Tashiichi Narabayashi was the pilot who flew the maiden flight in mid-July 1945 at the airfield in Ishioka, a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, about 90 km (56 miles) northeast of Tokyo. The Jinryū was towed into the air by a Tachikawa Ki-9, piloted by Saburo Fujikura, a man known for his skill in flying gliders prior to the beginning of the war.
  For the first test, Narabayashi assessed the Jinryū'shandling. On landing, his opinion was that the glider was stable and possessed good handling characteristics. For the second flight Narabayashi would investigate the Jinryū's diving 
caption: Mizuno Jinryū during landing
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