Years of service 1903–1945 Service/branch Imperial Japanese Army Allegiance Empire of Japan | Name Yoshitoshi Tokugawa Rank Lieutenant general | |
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Commands held Tokorozawa Army Aviation School, Akeno Army Aviation School Awards Order of the Rising Sun, 1st class Died April 17, 1963, Tokyo, Japan Education Imperial Japanese Army Academy | ||
Lieutenant General Baron Yoshitoshi Tokugawa (徳川 好敏, Tokugawa Yoshitoshi, 24 July 1884 – 17 April 1963) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and one of the pioneers of military aviation in Japan.
Biography
Tokugawa Yoshitoshi was the son of Count Tokugawa Atsumori (1856–1924) (head of the Shimizu branch of the Tokugawa clan). Through his father, he was the grandnephew of the last Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu. While his father had been created a count in 1884, he had relinquished the title in 1899. Yoshitoshi graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1903, after having specialized in military engineering.
In 1909, Tokugawa was sent as a military attache to France, specifically to study aeronautical engineering and military applications for the use of aircraft in combat. He purchased a Farman III biplane, which he shipped back to Japan. On 19 December 1910, Tokugawa flew Japan's first successful powered aircraft flight at Yoyogi Parade Ground where Tokyo's Yoyogi Park is now located, only seven years after the Wright Brothers' flight in the United States. On 5 April 1911, Tokugawa piloted the inaugural flight at Japan's first permanent airfield in Tokorozawa.
Tokugawa, together with General Hino Kumazo promoted the new technology to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff and helped establish the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service.
On 23 April 1911, Tokugawa set a Japanese record with a Bleriot, flying 48 miles in 1 hour 9 minutes 30 seconds.
Tokugawa led the 2nd Air Battalion, was Commanding Officer of the 1st Air Regiment, and was General Officer Commanding the Army Aviation Corps three times through the 1920s and 1930s. In 1928, he was created a baron. He served as Director of the Training Department in the Tokorozawa Army Aviation School, as Commandant of the same school and the Akeno Army Aviation School, and was later attached to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff. Tokugawa came to be known in Japan as "the Grandfather of Flight"
He was in the active reserve and was recalled for command of the Imperial Army Aviation School in 1945, before finally retiring.