Nakajima A1N


The Nakajima A1N, or Navy Type 3 Carrier Fighter was a Japanese carrier-based fighter of the late-1920s and early-'30s. It was a licensed copy of the British Gloster Gambet fighter, built by the Nakajima Aircraft Company for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Approximately 150 were built in total. There were two versions, the A1N1 and A1N2.

Development

By 1926, the Imperial Japanese Navy's Mitsubishi 1MF fighters were in need of replacement and so it asked three of the leading Japanese aircraft manufacturers, Nakajima, Mitsubishi and Aichi for proposals for a new carrier-based fighter.
Nakajima purchased a licence from the British Gloster Aircraft Company for production of the Gloster Gambet. It was a private venture design for a carrier-based derivative of their earlier Gloster Gamecock fighter. The prototype Gambet was built by Gloster and first flew on 12 December 1927.
The prototype Gambet was shipped to Japan early in 1928. After modifications were made and it was fitted with a Nakajima-built Bristol Jupiter engine, the Gambet was evaluated by the Japanese navy against competitors from Aichi and Mitsubishi. It proved to be more manoeuvrable while still being a stable gun platform and was selected in April 1929 for production as the Navy Type 3 Carrier Fighter, with the short designation A1N1. 50 A1N1s were built.
The A1N2 used the 336 kW Nakajima Kotobuki 2 engine, and was introduced in 1930. Production of approximately 100 was completed by 1932.

Design

The Gambet was a single-seat, single-bay biplane, of all-wooden construction and powered by an air-cooled Bristol Jupiter radial engine. While similar to the Gamecock, it was fitted with longer-span wings, internal flotation bags and arrestor hooks for carrier operations.

Operational history

The A1N1 entered service in 1929, replacing the Mitsubishi 1-MF. It served on the carriers,, and. The improved A1N2 entered service in 1930, with production continuing until 1932.
The A1N flew from the carriers Hōshō and Kaga during the Shanghai Incident in 1932 between Japan and China. A1Ns from Kaga scored the Imperial Japanese Navy's first air-to-air combat victory on 22 February 1932 when they shot down a Boeing P-12 flown by the American volunteer pilot Robert Short. A1Ns continued in service until 1935, being replaced in service by the Nakajima A2N or Navy Type 90 Carrier Fighter.

Variants

;Gloster Gambet
;Nakajima A1N1
;Nakajima A1N2

Operators