Nakajima a1n

In April 1926, the Imperial Navy of Japan announced a competition to create a new carrier-based fighter to replace the Mitsubishi 1MF fighters. The companies Mitsubishi, Aichi, Nakajima and Kawanishi participated in the competition. The Nakajima company in the 1920s was slightly inferior to Mitsubishi in the experience of aircraft manufacturing, but the first experiments in aircraft construction ended in constant accidents. The situation changed after the beginning of the work of engineer Dzingo Kuribar at the factory in the city of Ota, when the rise in general production began. When a competition was announced for the development of a new fighter, the company turned for help to specialists from the British aircraft manufacturer Gloster .

Nakajima engineers in England picked up two prototypes for developing their own aircraft: Gloster Gamecock and Gloster Gambet , developed by Henry Fallland. In July 1927, two Gloster Gambet fighters were purchased and a license was obtained for their production and purchase of Bristol Jupiter VI engines. Following the experience of competitors who went ahead and made mistakes in the projects, the management of the Ota plant changed the design of the aircraft, refusing to seal the structure and decided to place air bags inside the power set of the aircraft. In September 1927, fighter models arrived, and Takao Yoshida was appointed project development manager, adapting the Gloster Gambet to the technological features of Japanese production. The new aircraft received the name Nakajima A1N and the classification "Navy carrier-based fighter, type 3".

The tests were successfully completed in the first half of 1928, and in August the A1N fighter set a height record for Japan, climbing 7300 meters. Since 1929, the fighter began to enter the carrier-based air group.

The Nakajima fighter was a solid-wood biplane with linen sheathing and an open cockpit, which was covered by a small visor. An air bag was located inside the rear of the fuselage, allowing the aircraft to maintain buoyancy in the event of an emergency landing (a similar solution was used throughout the deck carrier of Japan throughout the Second World War). Engine - 9-cylinder radial air-cooled Bristol Jupiter IV with a capacity of 420 liters. with., which was produced since the end of 1927 in Japanese factories and became the basis for the family of Japanese aircraft engines in the 1930s and 1940s. Weapons were two 7.7-mm synchronous Vickers-E machine guns. In addition, two 30 kg bombs were taken on board.

From 1928 to 1929, 50 copies of a similar model, known under the A1N1 index, were released. Production was conducted at the Nakajima factory in Ota. Later, the A1N2 modification was introduced with a Nakajima Kotobuki-2 engine with a capacity of 450 liters. pp., which was created on the basis of Bristol Jupiter and Pratt & Whitney Wasp. The model also replaced the wooden screw with a metal one and removed the massive cook. By the end of 1932, about 100 samples of the Nakajima A1N2 were produced.

Since 1929, Nakajima A1N fighters began to be adopted by the deck groups of aircraft carriers " Hosho ", " Akagi " and " Kaga ", and since 1933 - on the " Ryujo ". They also were in service with the garrisons of the cities of Kasumigaura , Tateyama , Yokosuka , Sasebo and Omura . In naval aviation, the fighter was in service until 1935, but managed to distinguish itself in battles against the Chinese: it was the first aircraft to win an aerial victory in favor of the Japanese empire.

On January 27, 1932, a Japanese squadron of the Kaga and Hose carriers, the battleship Kirishima , and two light cruisers (34 ships, the commander - Vice Admiral Kitisaburo Nomura approached the Chinese coast near Shanghai . The next day the so-called " The Shanghai incident , which turned into full-scale hostilities, lasting for two months. During these battles, Japanese aviation conducted the first test of forces: 9 A1N fighters on the Hosho and 24 on the Kaga. On February 7, 1932, the Kaga air group was headed Senior Lieutenant Yoshitan Yanagimura Pere flew to the Kund airfield to support their troops.Airplanes flew for the bombing and attack, but did not attack the aircraft.

The first air battle of Japanese aviation took place on February 22, 1932 over the Suzhou railway junction, when three Mitsubishi B1M bombers under the command of senior lieutenant Susumu Kotani flew out to bomb the node. They were accompanied by three Nakajima A1N fighters: senior lieutenant Nokiji Ikuta, foreman of the 2nd article Toshio Kuroiva and sailor Kazuo Takeo. They raced the Chinese fighter Boeing P-12 , which was piloted by Robert McCawley Short, an American volunteer ( born Robert McCawley Short ). Short quickly attacked the leading bomber and opened fire: Kotani, who took the place of the navigator, was killed on the spot, and the gunner Sasaki was also wounded. Ikuta and Kuroiva attacked the American from the rear and shot his plane. The Boeing crashed to the ground, and Short died. So the first victory of Japanese aviation after the First World War was won. The deceased Kotani and Short, as well as the surviving fighter pilots, were glorified by both sides as heroes alike. Ikuta resigned in December 1932, during the Second World War he worked as an instructor in a flight school, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander and retiring after the war. The Japanese claim another air victory on February 26, 1932 , when the aircraft carrier group Hose from the pilots of Tokoro, Saito and Atsumi shot down a Chinese fighter, but there is no evidence to support this.

In 1935, the Nakajima A1N fighter was removed from warheads and replaced with a new Nakajima A2N modification.

Specifications

• Crew : 1 person
• Length : 6.5 m
• Wing span : 9.7 m
• Height : 3.3 m
• Wing Area: 26.3 m²
• Empty weight: 882 kg
• Normal take-off weight: 1375 kg
• Powerplant : 1 × 9-cylinder radial Nakajima Kotobuki-2
• Engine power: 1 × 450 hp (1 × 336 kW)

Flight characteristics

• Maximum speed: 241 km / h
• Cruising speed : 148 km / h
• Practical range: 370 km
• Practical ceiling : 7 km

Armament

• Rifle-cannon: two 7.7-mm synchronous Vickers-E machine guns
• Bombs : 2 bombs of 30 kg each

• Evgeny Aranov. Nakajima A1N Type 3 carrier-based fighter
• Naval Institute Press. Robert C. Mikesh, Shorzoe Abe. Japanese aircraft 1910 to 1941
• Shuppan Kyodo. Encyclopedia of japanese aircraft
• Avions Malcolm Passinghem. Les premiers chasseurs embarques nakajima
• Tadeusz Januszewski, Krzysztof Zalewski. Japonskie samoloty marynarki 1912-1945

• A2N fighter (Russian)