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Aichi was the fourth biggest Japanese aircraft company of the Second World War. The Aichi Tokei Denki K.K. (Aichi Clock and Electric Co Ltd) began to produce airframes at its Funakata plant in Nagaya in 1920. Engines followed in 1927, and during the early 1930s Aichi became a major supplier of military aircraft to the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Aichi benefited from a good working arrangement with Heinkel. The D1A dive bomber was a much modified version of the Heinkel He 66, while the famous D3A ‘Val’ used wings similar to those on the Heinkel He 70.
Engine production moved to the new Atsuta plant in south central Nagoya in 1938. Three years the Eitoku plant, a second airframe factory, opened in Nagoya. In March 1943 the Aichi Kokuki K.K. (Aichi Aircraft Co Ltd) was spun off as a separate company, taking over all of the aircraft and engine work. In late 1944 the pressure from American bombing forced the company to disperse its production, and at the end of the war the aircraft company was dissolved.
Main Aircraft
D1A Dive Bomber
D2A ‘Susie’ Dive Bomber
D3A ‘Val’ Dive Bomber
E10A Reconnaissance seaplane
E13A ‘Jake’ Reconnaissance Float Plane
E16A Zuiun (Auspicious Cloud) ‘Paul’ Reconnaissance Float Plane
B7A Ryusei (Shooting Star) Torpedo Bomber
Minor Aircraft and Projects
HD-23 prototypes
H9A Flying-boat trainer.
M6A Seiran (Mountain Haze) Submarine-borne bomber
S1A Denko (Bolt of Light) Night Fighter
E11A1 Night Reconnaissance Seaplane
E12A Reconnaissance Seaplane prototype
C4A reconnaissance prototype
Other Aircraft Produced
Yokosuka D4Y Suisei (Comet) ‘Judy’
Engines
Licence-built Daimler-Benz DB 601 as Atsuta series.