Roughly equivalent to the American
Curtiss SOC Seagull observation float
biplane, the smaller Mitsubishi F1M
was of more compact and neater design,
its development starting about
two years later in 1934. First flown in
June 1936, the F1M1 embodied all the
efforts of its designers to achieve an
exceptionally clean aerodynamic
shape, including low-drag float mountings,
single interplane struts and all-metal
construction, only the control
surfaces being fabric-covered. The
early aircraft displayed poor water
handling and a lack of in-flight directional
stability, however, but after fairly
extensive alterations the production
F1M2 emerged as a thoroughly
efficient aircraft, acceptable in all respects.
Initial production by Mitsubishi,
which got under way in 1938,
amounted to 524 aircraft before it was
transferred to the 21st Naval Air Arsenal
(Dai-Nijuichi Kaigun Kokusho) at
Sasebo, where a further 590 were built.
In due course the F1M2 equipped all
but one of the K-Maru (6,900-ton) and
S-Maru (7,200/8,300-ton) classes of
converted merchant seaplane tenders,
as well as numerous battleships
and cruisers of the Imperial Japanese
Navy. Codenamed 'Pete' by the Allies,
FlM2s were present at the Battle of
Midway, two aircraft being launched
from the battleship Kirishima (but
being lost when the Japanese scuttled
the sorely-crippled ship at the end of
the Battle of the Solomons). The giant
superbattleships Musashi and Yamato
each carried several 'Petes' to spot for
their 460mm main gun armament
at the time of the Marianas battles,
but none was used in earnest; instead
the Musashi succumbed to
American bombs and torpedoes in the
Sibuyan Sea; the Yamato, bent on a
suicide mission to Okinawa, followed
her to the bottom on 7 April 1945.
Nevertheless 'Pete' seaplanes were
widely used throughout the Pacific
war, accompanying every seaborne
landing by Japanese forces, providing
gunnery spotting during preliminary
bombardment by supporting warships
and subsequently serving as covering
fighters (and even dive-bombers)
once the assault forces were ashore. It
was also flown on convoy escort duties
with the many supply convoys sailed
by the Japanese during the mid-war
period. In the last stages of the war, the
type was committed to the unequal
task of defending the Japanese homeland
from the devastating American
raids, serving alongside 'Rex' and
'Rufe' seaplane fighters with the Otsu
Kokutai in 1945.
