Kawanishi Aircraft Takarazuka Factory
川西航空機宝塚工場
Major wartime aircraft factory of the Kawanishi Aircraft Company in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, which produced the N1K Shiden/Shiden-Kai fighter and components for the H8K Emily flying boat. Heavily bombed on July 24, 1945, the site was demolished in 1949 and is now the Hanshin Racecourse.
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History
The Kawanishi Aircraft Takarazuka Factory (川西航空機宝塚工場) was one of the principal manufacturing facilities of the Kawanishi Aircraft Company (川西航空機株式会社), located in what was then Yoshimoto Village (later incorporated into Takarazuka City), Hyogo Prefecture. Brought into operation in October 1941 on approximately 695,000 square meters of land, it was part of Japan's wartime aircraft production expansion program.
Kawanishi Aircraft was one of Japan's most important naval aircraft manufacturers, renowned for its flying boats and fighters. The Takarazuka factory primarily produced the N1K2-J Shiden Kai (紫電改, "Violet Lightning Modified"), widely regarded as one of the Imperial Japanese Navy's finest fighters of the war. The Shiden Kai was capable of engaging late-war Allied fighters such as the F6F Hellcat, F4U Corsair, and P-51 Mustang on equal terms. The factory also manufactured airframe components, engines, and weapons parts that supported production at other Kawanishi facilities, including the main Naruo plant in Nishinomiya.
The company's other major product, the H8K Type 2 Flying Boat (二式大艇, Allied codename "Emily"), was the world's most capable maritime patrol flying boat of the war. While final assembly of the H8K occurred primarily at the Konan factory in Kobe, the Takarazuka facility supplied critical components for its production.
On July 24, 1945, the Takarazuka factory was devastated by a massive Allied air raid. B-29 bombers — 77 aircraft dropping about 900 one-thousand-pound bombs, according to US mission records cited by the Kobe Shimbun — attacked the facility at around 10:30 a.m. The raid destroyed roughly 80–85% of the factory. Reported deaths range from 83 to 106 depending on the source; the workforce included mobilized students from Kansai Gakuin University and members of the Takarazuka Revue women's volunteer labor corps.
After Japan's surrender, all four of Kawanishi's major factories lay in ruins from Allied bombing. The company reorganized as Shin Meiwa Industries (now ShinMaywa Industries) in 1949, shifting to civilian production. The Takarazuka factory site was cleared and transferred for the construction of the Hanshin Racecourse (阪神競馬場), which opened on the former factory grounds. ShinMaywa Industries' headquarters factory remains adjacent to the racecourse site, maintaining the company's connection to its wartime origins.