MAQUETTE À MONTER - Nakajima B5N2 Type 97 Carrier Attack Bomber (Kate) Model 3 Hasegawa | N° 09076 | 1:48

Characteristics

Description

In 1935, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) commissioned both Mitsubishi and Nakajima with the construction of prototypes for a project tentatively titled the Type Ten Carrier-based Attack Bomber. IJN specs for the type were enormously ambitious even for those familiar with the recently adopted Type 96 attack-bomber. Nakajima, faced as they were with the prospect of being the only IJN-designated attack-bomber manufacturer, approached the new B-D project with at nothing less than a life-or-death struggle for survival of the company, pouring everything into B-D efforts to come up with the ideal aircraft. Accordingly, as development of the newly-nomenclatured Type 97 project, drawing up plans for what would become the first low-winged, all-metal monocoque fuselaged attack-plane the IJN had known. The Type 97 was given greater retractable landing gear and a narrow fuselage seating three crew members in tandem with the pilot in front. Carrier deck-ready folding wings also saw improvements for landem of a capable air carrier deck. A key factor in the design was the adoption of a capable air carrier deck. A key factor in the design was the adoption of a capable air carrier deck powerplant the Nakajima-built Hikari radial engine fitted with a three-bladed two-stage adjustable pitch all-metal propeller designed specifically for maximum performance efficiency in take-off, climb, cruising and top speed modes. The Type 97 Model 1 Carrier-based Attack-bomber (B5N1) was officially adopted on November 16, 1937, and when the IJN was dissatisfied with the Hikari engine rated 300hp lower than the Sakae engine originally intended for the design - the Type 97 still passed IJN specs with flying colors. Finally given the Sakae powerplant in the autumn of 1938, the new Type 97 Model 3 (B5N2) was officially adopted in December 1939. The B5N2 Nakajima production lines were praised and received accolades for performance and high level of bombing and torpedo accuracy. Type 97s, flying from all six of the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers spearheading the crippling blow at Pearl Harbor, passed IJN specs with flying colors. Type 97s flew during the initial stages of the war in combat in the Solomons, Southwest Pacific and Indian Ocean campaigns. B5N2 Data: Crew: three; wingspan: 15.518m; length: 10.3m; height: 3.7m; engine: Nakajima Sakae Model 11 air-cooled 14-cylinder radial (rated at 1000hp at take-off); top speed: 378km/h (at 3,600m); fixed armament: 7.7mm machine gun x 1 (for rear defense); bomb capacity: 800kg x 1/ 250kg x 2/ 60kg x 6 x 30kg x 6; torpedo capacity: 800kg x 1

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