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.


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