On this day in aviation history, 95 years ago (March 28, 1931), the Mitsubishi 2MR8 flew for the first time. Known by the military as the Army Type 92 Reconnaissance Aircraft, Mitsubishi developed the 2MR8 for the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. The Type 92 was a high-wing parasol monoplane design, and it held the distinction of being the first aircraft powered by an engine both designed and built in Japan to enter military service. Development of the 2MR8 began in 1930, when the Japanese Army issued a requirement for a short-range reconnaissance aircraft. The recon plane they sought would be flown as an adjunct to the larger Kawasaki Type 88 (2MR7) long-range recon aircraft. The first four prototypes built by Mitsubishi flew on March 28, 1931, powered by 320-horsepower Mitsubishi A2 radial engines. Subsequent models would receive more powerful engines, a smaller wing area, and a shorter fuselage. The fourth prototype, featuring these new modifications from the original, was accepted by the Japanese Army. The aircraft was then ordered into service as the Type 92 Reconnaissance Aircraft.
The production Mitsubishi Army Type 92 Reconnaissance Aircraft was powered by a 400-horsepower Mitsubishi Army Type 92 9-cylinder radial engine. The aircraft could attain a maximum airspeed of 140 mph and reach a service ceiling of 18,700 feet. The 2MR8 had a flight endurance of 4 to 5 hours, ideal for a reconnaissance aircraft. Mitsubishi armed the Type 92 with two fixed forward-firing 7.7 millimeter machine guns, and two more flex-mounted 7.7 guns in the rear cockpit. A civilian version of the Type 92 was built by Mitsubishi to satisfy the requirements of the Japanese Ministry of Railways for a survey aircraft. This variant was called the Hato survey aircraft, and it differed slightly from the original military version. The Hato featured a glazed canopy over the rear cockpit, an open forward pilot’s cockpit, and spat-type main wheel fairings. A single Hato was ordered in 1935, and the aircraft would be delivered in March 1936 under the registration J-AARA. Type 92s saw service between 1933 and 1936 in Manchuria with the Kwantung Army Air Corps air battalions. The Chinese Air Force flew the Type 92 at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Mitsubishi built a total of 234 2MR8 aircraft; none are known to survive today.
