Background
In 1945, when Japan was defeated in the Second World War,
the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers banned Japanese armaments
completely. Of course, aircraft-related research was prohibited. Aeronautical
specialists who had been engaged in aircraft design and fabrication during
the War were at a loss, and were scattered to more basic regions or comparatively
close fields in the academic sense.
In 1952, when the San Francisco Peace Treaty came into effect,
jet planes announced the beginning of a new era. The former aeronautical
engineers rushed in succession into jet-plane research with academic freedom
for a background. But some young engineers and scientists at the University
of Tokyo, with Prof. Hideo Itokawa at the core, formed a research group
called the AVSA (Avionics and Supersonic Aerodynamics) Group aiming at
rocket development in Japan. On February 5, 1954, AVSA had its first official
meeting after a preparatory meeting in December 1953. |
|
|