Nakajima B5N
Sign in to saveAlso known as Kate, B5N
1937 attack aircraft family by Nakajima; Japan's primary carrier torpedo bomber in service at the start of World War II
Key facts
- Type
- Carrier-based torpedo bomber / high-level bomber
- National origin
- Japan
- Manufacturer
- Nakajima Aircraft Company
- Status
- Retired
- Primary user
- Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
- Number built
- 1,149
- First flight
- January 1937
- Developed into
- Nakajima B6N Tenzan
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Country
- Japan
- Operator
- Imperial Japanese Navy
- Country of origin
- Japan
- Developer
- Nakajima
- Manufacturer
- Nakajima
- Image
- SNJ-4 Texan (Nakajima B5N Kate) (21063555588).jpg
- Height
- 3.70
- Length
- 10.30
Show 8 more facts
- wingspan
- 15.52
- maximum operating altitude
- 8260
- Commons category
- Nakajima B5N
- first flight
- 1937-00-00
- total produced
- 1149
- service entry
- 1937-00-00
- service retirement
- 1945-00-00
- native label
- 九七式艦上攻撃機
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Nakajima B5N (Allied reporting name "Kate") was the standard carrier-based torpedo bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) for much of World War II. It also served as a high level bomber.
Although the B5N was substantially faster and more capable than its Allied counterparts, the American Douglas TBD Devastator monoplane (the U.S. Navy's first all-metal, carrier-borne monoplane of any type with retracting gear), and the British Fairey Swordfish and Fairey Albacore torpedo biplanes, it was nearing obsolescence by 1941. Nevertheless, the B5N operated throughout the whole war, due to the delayed development of its successor, the B6N Tenzan.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Nakajima B5N” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.