- Yes
- No
Takeo Doi ( 土井武夫)
Takeo Doi was a Japanese aircraft designer who was born on October 31, 1904 and died on December 24, 1996. He went down in history as the chief designer of the Kawasaki plant from 1933 to 1945.
Biography
Takeo Doi was born in Yamagata City, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan in 1904. He graduated from Yamagata Higher School in 1924 and from the Faculty of Aeronautics at the Faculty of Engineering of the Imperial University of Tokyo in 1927. In April 1927, he was hired by the Kawasaki Dockyard Company (later Kawasaki Aircraft). At the time, the lead designer was Dr. Richard Vogt, who took the young Takeo Doi under his wing. Dr. Vogt really liked the fresh look at aircraft design that Takeo Doi had. Together, from 1927 to 1933, they developed the KDA-3, KDA-4, KDA-5, KDA-6, KDA-7 aircraft and the Ki-5 aircraft. In 1931, Dr. Vogt persuaded Kawasaki management to send Takeo to Europe so that he could see modern aviation solutions in Germany and other countries. When Dr. Richard Vogt returned to Germany in October 1932, his place was taken by Takeo Doi. From 1933 to 1942, he worked as chief designer of the Kawasaki plant, and from October 1942 to 1945 he was the head of the design department. During these 12 years, he designed 15 aircraft, including fighters: Ki-10, Ki-45, Ki-61, bombers: Ki-48, Ki-91, experimental aircraft: Ki-60, Ki-64 and several other aircraft. At the end of August 1945, immediately after the end of the war, he was dismissed from Kawasaki Aircraft due to the peace truce with the Allies after the end of World War II, which prohibited the construction and design of aircraft in Japan. A year later, he founded a company that produced car trailers, but in 1949, when he fired employees under the influence of Dodge deflation, he also left the company. In October 1950, he joined Kawasaki Steel, and the following year he moved to Kawasaki Aircraft as a technical consultant. On September 8, 1951, a treaty was signed in San Francisco that ended the occupation of Japan and allowed the design of new aircraft. He also became a lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nagoya. In the mid-1950s, he was involved in the development of the T1K1 aircraft, which was a proposal from Kawasaki in a competition for a new training aircraft (the future Fuji T-1). In addition, he was involved in the development of the YS-11 aircraft, which was the first freight/passenger aircraft after the war. In the 1960s, he was involved in the last aviation project, the P-2J aircraft, which was a Japanese modification of the Lockheed P2V-7 aircraft. From April 1966, he became a professor at the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Meijo University. He also served as Head of the Department of Transport Machinery and Dean for Student Affairs, remaining in this position until his retirement in March 1977. He then returned to work as a technical advisor at Kawasaki Aviation Headquarters, and in 1989 he wrote his memoir, “Reminiscences of 50 Years of Aircraft Design”. He died on December 24, 1996 at the age of 92.
Photos of Takeo Doi from different years
Aircraft that he designed or participated in in the design of
- KDA-3 (Prototype)
- Prototype of a biplane waterplane (KDA-4)
- Type 92 (KDA-5)
- KDA-6 (Prototype)
- Type 93 (KDA-7) Light Bomber
- Ki-5 (Experimental aircraft)
- Ki-10 Type 95 fighter
- Ki-28 (Prototype)
- Ki-45 Kai Type 2 Toryu
- Ki-48 Type 99 light bomber
- Ki-56 transport aircraft
- Ki-60 (Experimental aircraft)
- Ki-61 Hien fighter
- Ki-64 (Experimental aircraft)
- Ki-66 (Prototype)
- Ki-88 (project)
- Ki-91 (Prototype)
- Ki-96 (Prototype)
- Ki-100 fighter
- Ki-102
- Ki-119 (project)
- T1K1 (project)
- YS-11
- P-2J
Summary
Takeo Doi was a brilliant designer who created a lot of airplanes. Although he was not a military man, if it were not for his influence, the Imperial Japanese Air Force (IJAAS) did not have key aircraft, including fighters and bombers. Takeo Doi went down in the History of the Japanese Aerospace Industry and should be commemorated along with Jiro Horikoshi and Hideo Itokawa. He should get his profile picture, as without it there wouldn’t be about 20 planes from the Japan tree in War Thunder.
Finally, I apologize for the linguistic and logical errors because unfortunately English is not my main language and I had to use google translator.
Internet sources
土井武夫 - Wikipedia
Takeo Doi (aircraft designer) - Wikipedia
WEB版「航空と文化」東京帝大航空学科（昭和２年）５回生同期生 酒井 正子 (aero.or.jp)
WEB版「航空と文化」 東京帝大航空学科5回同期生（その2） 酒井正子 (aero.or.jp)
HISTORIAS DE LA AVIACIÓN: DISEÑADORES JAPONESES DE AVIONES - TAKEO DOI (historiasdelaviacion.blogspot.com)
Book sources
- 航空機設計50年の回想 ("Fifty Years Recollections on Aircraft Design ") by Takeo Doi ,Kantosha, October 1989
- 軍用機開発物語 ("Story of Warplane Development ") by Takeo Doi