Yoshitoshi Tokugawa

Yoshitoshi Tokugawa
General Yoshitoshi Tokugawa
Born	24 July 1884 Tokyo, Japan
Died	17 April 1963(1963-04-17) (aged 78) Tokyo, Japan
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service	1903–1945
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	Tokorozawa Army Aviation School, Akeno Army Aviation School
Awards	Order of the Rising Sun, 1st class

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.

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 attaché 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.