Chikuhei Nakajima

Chikuhei Nakajima 中島 知久平
Chikuhei Nakajima
Born	(1884-01-01)January 1, 1884 Nitta District, Gunma, Japan
Died	October 29, 1949(1949-10-29) (aged 65) Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan
Nationality	Japan
Occupation	Industrialist, Politician, Cabinet Minister

Chikuhei Nakajima (中島 知久平, Nakajima Chikuhei^?, January 1, 1884 – October 10, 1949), was a Japanese naval officer, engineer, and politician, who is most notable for having founded Nakajima Aircraft Company in 1917, a major supplier of airplanes in the Empire of Japan. He also served as a cabinet minister.

Nakajima was born in Nitta District, Gunma, (currently part of Ōta city), where his father was a farmer. Nakajima attended the Imperial Japanese Naval Engineering School, graduating from the 15th class in 1907 and was promoted to Ensign in 1908. On October 27, 1911, he piloted Japan’s first airship. He was also commissioned as a lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1911. After graduating from the Naval Staff College in 1912, he was sent for further studies to the United States, where he became the 3rd Japanese to receive a pilot’s license upon graduation from a flight school established by Glenn Curtiss. On his return to Japan, he designed an improved version of the Farman float plane for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Nakajima was dispatched as a military attaché to Europe in 1916, to observe first-hand the use of aircraft in combat. On his return to Japan in 1917, he resigned from the military as a Lieutenant, and opened a company to produce aircraft in Japan in his hometown of Ōta in Gunma Prefecture. Nakajima received financial support from fellow engineer Seibei Kawanishi, and the company was called Nihon Hikoki Seisakusho KK (Japanese Aeroplane Manufacturing Work Co. Ltd). This company became the Nakajima Aircraft Company after the partners split in 1919, and the same year, the new company received its first order for 20 aircraft from the Japanese military.