Thursday 28 March 2013

Avro 504K - Nippon Hiko Gakko

On August 17, 1927 a group of actresses of the Imperial Theatre visited the installations of "Nippon Hiko Gakko" (Japan Flying School) in Tachikawa. They were members of the 6th graduating class and each of them thoroughly enjoyed a 10-minute flight with the Avro 504K of the school. One of them commented "I would love to continue flying as far as Osaka."

The inscription on the fuselage side reads, top: NIPPON HIKO GAKKO, lower: TOKYO TACHIKAWA

The "Teikoku Gekijo" (Imperial Theatre) is still standing and is operational (Link1, Link2). Back then they had classes for actors and actresses that upon graduation were permanent members of the establishment.
"Nippon Hiko Gakko" was established in August 1916 in Haneda airfield and in 1936 the school fleet was made up of only six vintage aircraft among them an Avro 504K, a Salmson 2A2, a Nieuport 24 and the single Cauldron C-161 imported from Kawasaki. On January 12, 1923 a branch was established in Tachikawa airfield explicitly to train pilots.    

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