Boscombe Down Branch Lecture: Mitsubishi Ki-15 "Babs"

“The Mitsubishi Ki-15 (code-named “Babs” by the Allies) was developed during a brief golden aeronautical period (between the mid 1930s and early 1940s), when the Japanese aircraft industry flourished under constant military aircraft competitions and production orders. Free from prying eyes and shrouded within a self-imposed veil of secrecy, the Japanese developed numerous designs that were equal to and in some cases ahead of contemporary Western manufacturers.”
This description is taken from technical illustrator Joe Picarella’s book Mitsubishi Babs Vol. 1: The World’s First High-Speed Strategic Reconnaissance Aircraft and in this lecture, held at MOD Boscombe Down in October 2022, Joe discusses the story behind the development and operational deployment of the “Babs”.
Speaker Details
Giuseppe “Joe” Picarella, MRAeS, The Cutaway Company
Joe began his career working as part of the editorial team of Flight International magazine, where he worked for 20 years, which including running the cutaway department for 12 years. He would typically visit 3 or 4 aerospace manufactures each year and spend a week to 10 days at the factory, where he would be fully briefed on an aircraft, collect engineering material and take thousands of photos, before producing the cutaway drawings.

[@codexintegrum]

Very nice presentation on an overlooked aircraft.

[@65TossTrap]

The Babs was an amazing aircraft and well ahead of its time. Thank you for this excellent presentation.

[@RaduB.]

Thank you! A riveting story especially from the minute 19:00 or so... Edit: Found the books of Mr. Abe and Picarella and ordered them.