The G10N Fugaku, was a twelve engine (six coupled pairs) heavy bomber project. Planned was a speed of 780km/h, carried 20,000kg of bombs, and a range of 19,400 km. The G10N had a weak defensive armament of four 20mm cannon in single turrets. It was in advanced stage of competition at VJ day.
Piston
Nakajima 18-Shi / G8N Renzan
Developed as the Experimental 18-Shi Heavy Bomber Renzan (Nakajima G8N1), this was a very advanced long-range bomber powered by four 1491kW Nakajima Homare 24 radials which gave it a maximum speed of 592km/h at 8000m. Maximum range was 7465km. Armament consisted of six 20mm cannon in twin power-operated dorsal, ventral and tail turrets, two 13mm machine-guns in a power-operated nose turret, and single machine-guns of similar calibre in port and starboard beam positions. A maximum bombload of 4000kg could be carried over short ranges.
Four prototypes were built up to June 1945, but the proposed production programme was disrupted by Allied bombing and was abandoned when the navy’s role became defensive rather than offensive. These prototypes were allocated the Allied codename ‘Rita’.
G8N1
Engine: 4 x Nakajima NK9K-L “Homare-24”, 1500kW
Wingspan: 32.54 m / 106 ft 9 in
Length: 22.94 m / 75 ft 3 in
Height: 7.2 m / 23 ft 7 in
Wing area: 112 sq.m / 1205.56 sq ft
Max take-off weight: 26800-32150 kg / 59084 – 70879 lb
Empty weight: 17400 kg / 38361 lb
Max. speed: 590 km/h / 367 mph
Cruise speed: 390 km/h / 242 mph
Ceiling: 10200 m / 33450 ft
Range: 4000 km / 2486 miles
Range w/max.fuel: 7500 km / 4660 miles
Armament: 6 x 20mm cannons, 4 x 12.7mm machine-guns, 1000-4000kg of bombs
Nakajima G5N Shinzan
The first application of the Nakajima Mamoru engines was on the first prototype of the G5N1 Genzan, first flying on April 10, 1941. The G5N1 had been designed on the basis of the Douglas DC-4E as Japan’s first four-engine bomber, and proved to be a disappointment. These problems were compounded by the unreliability of the early Mamoru engines, which had to be de-tuned and left the G5N1 underpowered. The G5N1’s maiden flight was on 10 April 1941, and a further four prototypes were built with the Mamoru. In an attempt to salvage the project, two additional airframes were fitted with 1,530 hp Mitsubishi MK4B 12 “Kasei” engines and redesignated G5N2s. Although the Mitsubishi engines were more reliable than the original Mamoru 11s, further development was halted. Of the six completed Shinzans, four of them (two G5N2s and two G5N1s re-engined with the Kasei 12) were relegated for use as long-range Navy transports under the designation Shinzan-Kai Model 12 Transport G5N2-L.
First spotted by an Intelligence Officer from AAF Headquarters in Washington, the bomber was coded ‘Liz’ after his daughter.
G5N1
Engine: 4 x Nakajima NK7A Mamoru-11, 1400kW
Max take-off weight: 28150-32000 kg / 62060 – 70548 lb
Empty weight: 20100 kg / 44313 lb
Wingspan: 42.12 m / 138 ft 2 in
Length: 31.02 m / 101 ft 9 in
Wing area: 201.8 sq.m / 2172.16 sq ft
Max. speed: 420 km/h / 261 mph
Cruise speed: 370 km/h / 230 mph
Ceiling: 7450 m / 24450 ft
Range: 4260 km / 2647 miles
Crew: 7
Armament: 2 x 20mm cannons, 4 x 7.7mm machine-guns
Bombload: 2000-4000kg
G5N2
Engines: 4 x 1,530 hp Mitsubishi MK4B 12 Kasei
Wingspan: 42.12 m / 138 ft 2 in
Length: 31.02 m / 101 ft 9 in
Wing area: 201.8 sq.m / 2172.16 sq ft
G5N2-L Shinzan-Kai Model 12
Engines: 4 x 1,530 hp Mitsubishi MK4B 12 Kasei
Wingspan: 42.12 m / 138 ft 2 in
Length: 31.02 m / 101 ft 9 in
Wing area: 201.8 sq.m / 2172.16 sq ft
Nakajima Ki-8
Although the Imperial Navy had discarded the two-seat fighter requirement that had resulted in the NAF-1 and -2, western developments in this category of aircraft stimulated some interest on the part of the Army to which, in 1933, Nakajima offered an advanced company-funded two-seat fighter project. Designed by Shigejiro Owada and Toshio Matsuda, and assigned the designation Ki-8 by the Army, the aircraft was an all-metal low-wing cantilever monoplane with a monocoque fuselage and spatted cantilever fixed under-carriage. Powered by a Nakajima Kotobuki 3 engine rated at 710 hp for take-off and carrying an armament of two fixed forward-firing 7,7-mm guns and one 7,7-mm gun on a flexible mount, the Ki-8 was conceptually advanced and five proto¬types were built between March 1934 and May 1935. Army evaluation revealed stability and other problems, and al¬though these were subsequently rectified, doubts concerning the practicability of the two-seat fighter concept led to the discontinuation of further development.
Nakajima YM / A4N / Type 95
The 1930s Nakajima set to work to build a conventional single-seat biplane fighter. The resulting YM prototype being an unequal-span biplane of mixed construction and clearly owing much to the obsolescent A2N. Nevertheless, it was considered essential by the Navy until more modern types could be perfected and Nakajima was authorised to proceed with development of the biplane concept.
The resulting Navy Type 95 Carrier Fighter (Nakajima A4N1) had a divided landing gear designed to cope with carrier landings, a tailwheel instead of a tail-skid, and other minor changes. The increase in speed being due entirely to the more powerful Hikari engine.
Production totalled 221 between 1935 and 1937.
A4N1
Engine: 1 x Nakajima “Hikari”, 544kW
Wingspan: 10 m / 32 ft 10 in
Length: 6.64 m / 21 ft 9 in
Height: 3.07 m / 10 ft 1 in
Wing area: 22.89 sq.m / 246.39 sq ft
Max take-off weight: 1760 kg / 3880 lb
Loaded weight: 1276 kg / 2813 lb
Max. speed: 350 km/h / 217 mph
Ceiling: 7740 m / 25400 ft
Range: 845 km / 525 miles
Armament: 2 x 7.7 mm machine-guns, 120kg of bombs
Crew: 1
Nakajima Ki-4
Extensively test-flown in 1934, the Nakajima Ki-4 sesquiplane had divided landing gear with streamlined wheel spats, and accommodated pilot and observer in tandem open cockpits, the pilot just below a cut-out in the trailing edge of the upper wing. With twin forward firing 7.7¬mm (0.303 in) Type 89 machine guns in front of the pilot and single or twin guns on a ring mounting in the rear cockpit. With fewer guns, it could carry a 50 kg (110 lb) bombload and be used for ground attack or dive-bombing. The powerplant was a single 600 hp Nakajinia Ha 8 Hikari radial engine, fitted with an exhaust collector ring and driving a two blade propeller. Landing gear was nor¬mally of the twin mainwheel type, with a tail skid.
The Ki-4 went into production and service in 1935 to replace the earlier Kawasaki KDA 2 (Type 88), as the Army Type 94 Reconnaissance Aircraft Model 2 which dispensed with the wheel fairings and had a redesigned tail unit.
The Type 94 was used widely in China by the Japanese army on direct co-operation duties, in close support of the ground forces. The Japanese army tested two Ki-4s as seaplanes, one with twin floats and the other with one main and two stabilising floats. A landplane was used for flotation bag tests to check buoyancy in the event of an emergency put-down on water.
A total of 516 were built, some aircraft being licence-built by Tachikawa.
Ki-4 Type 94
Engine: 1 x Ha-8, 477kW
Span upper: 12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Span lower: 8.52 m (27 ft 11 in)
Length: 7.73 m (25 ft 4 in)
Gross weight: 2616 kg (5767 lb)
Maximum speed: 300 km/h (186 mph).
Armament: 4 x 7.7mm machine-guns, 50kg of bombs
Crew: 2
Nakajima J1N Gekko
Work on the Nakajima J1N Gekko (Moonlight) design began in 1938 to a Navy specification for a long range escort fighter, and the prototype J1N1 made its maiden flight in May 1941. Flight test revealed several factors against its suitability as a fighting aircraft but in July 1942 it was ordered into production for the reconnaissance role as the J1N1-C.
When first encountered in action during the Solomons campaign the aircraft was mistakenly thought to be a Naval ‘Nick’. Codenamed ‘Irving’ by the Allies covering many different model, it soon narrowed down to the reccon and night fighter versions, J1NC-1 Type 2 and J1N1-S Gekko respectively.
As night air attacks were stepped up by the Americans it was the commanding officer of the 251st Kokutai, Commander Yasuna Kozono, then based at Rabaul, New Guinea, who first suggested adaptation of the J1N as a night-fighter by installing two 20mm cannon in the observer’s cockpit, fixed to fire obliquely forward and upward at an angle of 30 degrees, and another pair firing forward and downward. When two Consolidated B-24s were quickly destroyed, the modifications came to the attention of the Japanese naval staff and an order was placed with Nakajima to go ahead with a dedicated night-fighter version, designed and built as such from scratch.
These were followed by a few turret-mounting J1N1-F and later by the J1N1-S Gekko, built from the onset for night-fighting, some later bearing primitive centimetric AI radar in the closing stages of the war, and some aircraft also carried a small nose searchlight.
This version, the J1N1-S, entered production in August 1943 and continued until December 1944, during which period a total of 420 J1Ns were produced, the great majority of them J1N1-S night-fighters. These differed from the earlier reconnaissance version in having the crew reduced from three to two, the observer’s cockpit being eliminated and faired over. All aircraft retained the upward-firing cannon, but the downward firing guns (found difficult to aim and seldom used) were omitted from later aircraft, while a third upper gun and a forward-firing 20mm cannon was fitted in the J1N1-Sa.
Total production of the J1N, including prototypes, amounted to 479. Some of these were employed on bombing duties with an offensive load of up to 2432 lb.
In service with the 251st, 302nd and 322nd Kokutais, the J1N1-S night-fighters proved fairly effective against the B-24, which was not in any case well-suited to night operations, but with the appearance of the Boeing B-29 the Japanese night-fighters proved too slow and were seldom able to make more than a single firing attack. Most of them were expended during the final months of the war when, equipped to carry two 250kg bombs, they were employed in kamikaze attacks against ground targets.
J1N1-S
Engines: 2 x Nakajima “Sakae-21”, 843kW / 1130 hp
Wingspan: 16.98 m / 55 ft 9 in
Length: 12.77 m / 41 ft 11 in
Height: 3.99 m / 13 ft 1 in
Wing area: 40 sq.m / 430.56 sq ft
Max take-off weight: 8185 kg / 18045 lb
Empty weight: 4850 kg / 10692 lb
Max. speed: 507 km/h / 315 mph at 19,030 ft
Service ceiling: 9320 m / 30600 ft
Normal range: 1584 mi
Range w/max.fuel: 3780 km / 2349 miles
Armament: 4 x Type 99 20mm cannons
Crew: 2
Nakajima B6N Tenzan
At a time when the triumphs of the B5N were still almost three years in the future, the Japanese navy issued a specification for a replacement, recognizing that only limited overall design improvement of the B5N could be achieved in the B5N2. Accordingly design went ahead in 1939 of the Nakajima B6N and, despite the Navy’s preference for the Mitsubishsi Kasei radial, a Nakajima Mamoru was selected for the prototype which flew on 14 March 1941, demonstrating several problems, notably the poor engine reliability. With the delay of 2 years, by 1943 the engine had improved to the point where serial production was allowed to start, but after only 133 B6N1s had been delivered the Navy ordered the switch to the 1,850 hp (1380 kW) Mitsubishi MK4T Kasei 25. The rest of the 1,268 B6N2s were Kasei powered.
Superficially the B6N Tenzan (Heavenly Mountain) resembled the earlier aircraft, but the much increased power and torque of the big engine and four-blade propeller was found to impose considerable directional stability problems, demanding that the vertical tail surfaces be offset to one side. Flight trials dragged on, and were further delayed by troubles during carrier acceptance tests. Then Nakajima was ordered to stop production of the Mamoru engine, so modifications had to be introduced to suit installation of the Kasei.
In due course B6N1 aircraft (of which only 133 were built) were embarked in the carriers Shokaku, Taiho, Hiyo, Junyo and Zuikaku, and took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea of June 1943, many being lost when the three Shokaku, Taiho, and Hiyo were sunk.
In that month production started of the slightly improved B6N2 (of which 1,133 were produced before the end of the war), but the heavy losses among Japanese carriers resulted in the ‘Jill’ being largely deployed ashore, particularly after the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Thereafter many BsNs were consigned to the kamikaze role.
B6N2
Engine: 1 x Mitsubishi MK4T “Kasei-25”, 1850 hp
Wingspan: 14.9 m / 48 ft 11 in
Wing area: 37.2 sq.m / 400.42 sq ft
Length: 10.87 m / 35 ft 8 in
Height: 3.8 m / 12 ft 6 in
Empty weight: 3010 kg / 6636 lb
Max take-off weight: 5650 kg / 12456 lb
Max. speed: 480 km/h / 298 mph at 16,076 ft
Ceiling: 9040 m / 29650 ft
Service ceiling: 26,660 ft
Range w/max.fuel: 3045 km / 1892 miles
Armament: 1 x 13 mm, 2 x 7.9mm machine-guns
Bomb load: 1 x 1764 lb torpedo or 6 x 220 lb bombs
Crew: 3
Nakajima B5N
Designed to a 1935 requirement, and already in service for four years when Japan entered the war, the prototype B5N first flew in January 1937. A low-wing three-crew monoplane with inwards-retracting wide-track landing gear, powered by a 770 hp Hikari engine, and entered production as a 1000 hp Nakajima Sakae 11-powered light or torpedo-bomber. The following year production B5N1 aircraft were embarking in Japan’s carriers and shore-based units were deployed in China.
In 1939 the improved B5N2 appeared with a more powerful Sakae 11 engine in a smaller cowling, although armament and bombload were unchanged, and this version remained in production until 1943.
Many were converted to B5N1-K trainers when production switched to B5N2.
When Japan attacked the USA the B5N2 had wholly replaced the B5N1 with operational units, and 144 B5N2s were involved in the attack on Pearl Harbour, and within the next 12 months aircraft of this type sank the American carriers USS Hornet, Lexington and Yorktown.
Given the reporting name ‘Kate’ by the Allies, with its defensive armament of a single machine-gun and laden with a large bomb or torpedo, the B5N began to suffer very heavily, and although the type was fully committed during the Solomons campaign the survivors were withdrawn from combat after the Philippine battles of 1944.
Thereafter, on account of their excellent range, they were assigned to antisubmarine and maritime reconnaissance duties in areas beyond the range of Allied fighters. Production of all B5Ns reached 1,149.
Nakajima B5N1
Engine: 1 x 840 hp Nakajima Hikari 3
Prop: 3 blade Constant speed
Wingspan: 50 ft 11 in
Length: 33 ft 9.5 in
Height: 12 ft 1.5 in
Wing area: 405.8 sq.ft
Wing loading: 20.1 lb/sq.ft
Loaded weight: 4640 lb
Max weight: 8150 lb
Max speed: 229 mph at 6,500 ft
Cruise speed: 159 mph at 6500 ft
Climb to 10,000 ft: 8 min
Service ceiling; 24,280 ft
Normal range: 590 nm
Max range: 1220 nm
Nakajima B5N2
Engine: 1 x Nakajima NK1B “Sakae”, 746kW
Wingspan: 15.52 m / 50 ft 11 in
Length: 10.3 m / 33 ft 10 in
Height: 3.7 m / 12 ft 2 in
Wing area: 37.7 sq.m / 405.80 sq ft
Max take-off weight: 4100 kg / 9039 lb
Empty weight: 2279 kg / 5024 lb
Max. speed: 378 km/h / 235 mph
Ceiling: 8260 m / 27100 ft
Range w/max.fuel: 1990 km / 1237 miles
Armament: 1 x 7.7mm machine-guns, 800kg of bombs
Crew: 3
Nakajima A3N1
The A3N1 was a two seat training derivative of the A2N1, of which 66 were produced between 1936 and 1939.
All Aero 