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In early 1944,
due to the fuel and raw materials shortage in Japan at that stage in the
war, the IJN desired to have a large transport seaplane capable of carry
a significant cargo load which would fly from Japan to Sumatra and then
return.
The success of the H6K and H8K flying boats
in the transport role led Kawanishi and the IJN to develop a new flying
boat to do the job. Taking the H8K as a base, Kawanishi began the design
of the H11K Soku rapidly. As ordered by the IJN, both the hull and wings
were to be built of wood and under each wing would be the
non-retractable floats. Authorisation was given to construct a full
scale wooden mock-up for inspection before Kawanishi could proceed with
the actual prototype. The deterioration of war affected the construction
of the mock-up. Kawanishi was also instructed by the IJN to concentrate
on building the N1K2 Shiden-kai fighyter. These factors delayed the
mock-up completion. In April 1945. bombing raid destroyed the nearly
completed Soku mock-up. With this loss, all further work on the Soku was
ended.
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