Nakajima Aircraft Company


The Nakajima Aircraft Company was a prominent Japanese aircraft manufacturer and aviation engine manufacturer throughout World War II. It continues as the car and aircraft manufacturer Subaru.

History

The Nakajima Aircraft company was Japan's first aircraft manufacturer, and was founded in 1918 by Chikuhei Nakajima, a naval engineer, and Seibei Kawanishi, a textile manufacturer, as. In 1919, the two founders split and Nakajima bought out Nihon Aircraft's factory with tacit help from the Imperial Japanese Army. The company was renamed Nakajima Aircraft Company in 1919.
The company's manufacturing facilities were:

After World War II

After Japan's defeat in World War II, the company was forced to close, as the production and research of aircraft was prohibited by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. This had a severe impact on Nakajima as one of the two largest aircraft manufacturers in Japan; the second was Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Unlike MHI, Nakajima did not diversify into shipbuilding and general machinery, and so was forced to dissolve into a number of spin-off companies set up by its former managers, engineers, and workers. As a result, leading aeronautical engineers from the company, such as Ryoichi Nakagawa, helped transform Japan's automobile industry.
The company was reborn in 1953 as Fuji Heavy Industries, maker of Fuji Rabbit scooters and Subaru automobiles, and as Fuji Precision Industries, manufacturer of Prince Skyline and Prince Gloria automobiles. Fuji began aircraft production in the mid-1950s and produced military training aircraft and helicopters for the Japan Self-Defense Forces. In 2017, it rebranded as Subaru Corporation.

Products

Naval aircraft

Fighter

  • A1N - - 1927 carrier-borne fighter; licensed copy of the Gloster Gambet
  • A2N - - 1930 carrier biplane fighter
  • A4N - - 1935 carrier-borne fighter
  • A6M2-N - - 'Rufe' 1941 floatplane version of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero
  • J1N - - 'Irving' 1941 Navy land-based night fighter
  • J5N - - 1944 Navy land-based single-seat twin-engine interceptor prototype
  • Kikka - - 1945 jet-engined interceptor prototype; Japan's first jet aircraft

Trainer

  • A3N - - 1936 two-seat trainer developed from the A2N

Torpedo bomber

  • B3N - 1933 Navy torpedo bomber prototype, lost contract to the Yokosuka B3Y
  • B4N - 1936 Navy torpedo bomber prototype, lost contract to the Yokosuka B4Y
  • B5N - Type 97 carrier attacker - 'Kate' 1937 Navy torpedo bomber
  • B6N - - 'Jill' 1941 Navy torpedo bomber

Scout and reconnaissance aircraft

  • C2N - land-based reconnaissance aircraft based on the Nakajima Ki-6
  • C3N - - 1936 carrier-borne reconnaissance aircraft
  • C6N - - 'Myrt' 1943 carrier-borne reconnaissance aircraft
  • E2N - - 1927 reconnaissance aircraft
  • E4N - 1930 reconnaissance aircraft
  • E8N - - 'Dave' 1935 reconnaissance seaplane
  • E12N - 1938 reconnaissance seaplane prototype, lost to the Kawanishi E12K

Dive bomber

Heavy bomber

  • G5N - - 'Liz' 1941 heavy four-engine long-range heavy bomber
  • G8N - - 'Rita' 1945 heavy four-engine long-range heavy bomber
  • G10N - - 1945 projected six-engine long-range bomber

Transport

Army aircraft

Fighter

Bomber

Reconnaissance

Transport

  • Ki-6 - Type 95 Trainer - 1930 transport, training aircraft; licensed copy of the Fokker Super Universal
  • Ki-16 - cargo transport/ground refueling aircraft
  • Ki-34 - Type 97 Transport - 'Thora' 1937 Army transport aircraft version of AT-2
  • Ki-41 - cargo transport

Trainer

  • - trainer, license-built version of the Nieuport 83 trainer

Kamikaze aircraft

Jet prototypes

  • - 1945 Navy experimental land-based ground attack/ASW jet, two prototypes built; first Japanese jet aircraft

Civil aircraft

Aircraft engines