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U.S. Navy. Via Francillon (1979) |
U.S. Army. Via ibiblio.org |
Nakajima B5N1 “Kate”
|
Crew |
2 or 3 |
|
Dimensions |
50’11” by
33’11” by
12’2” 15.52m by 10.30m by 3.7m |
| Wing area | 406
square feet 37.7 square meters |
|
Weight |
5024-9039 lbs 2279-4100 kg |
|
Maximum speed |
235 mph at 11,810 feet 378 km/h at 3600 m |
|
Cruising speed |
161 mph at 9,845 feet 259 km/h at 3000 m |
|
Climb rate |
23 feet per second 7.0 meters per second |
|
Ceiling |
27,100 feet 8260 m |
| One 1000 hp (746 kW) Nakajima NK1B Sakae 11 fourteen-cylinder air-cooled radial engine driving a three-bladed constant-speed metal propeller. | |
|
Armament |
One flexible rear-firing 7.7mm Type 92 machine gun. |
|
External stores |
1 1764 lb (800 kg) Typed 91 torpedo or 1 1764 lb (800 kg) Type 99 AP bomb or 3 551 lb (250 kg) Type 99 GP bombs |
|
Range |
608 miles (978 km) normal 1240 miles (2000 km) maximum |
| A total of 1,149 B5Ns were built as follows:
Nakajima Hikoki K.K., at Koizumi: Aichi Tokei Denki K.K., at Nagoya: Dai-Juichi Kaigun Kokusho, at Hiro: |
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Variants |
The B5N2 used a 1115hp Sakae 21 engine and was armed with dual flexible 7.7mm in the rear cockpit and two 7.7mm fixed above the forward fuselage. |
Also known as the Type 97 Carrier Attack Bomber,
"Kate" was the standard Japanese
torpedo bomber at the start of the war. Though the design dated back to
1935 and was considered obsolescent by 1941, it remained the most
important light bomber in
Japanese carrier air groups until 1944. A
Japanese fleet carrier
air group typically included a torpedo bomber squadron of up to 27
"Kates",
reflecting the importance the Japanese Navy assigned to torpedo
bombers.
"Kate" introduced a number of important
innovations to Japanese carrier aviation, including retractable landing
gear and wings that could be folded at their midpoints for carrier
stowage. The original design also featured Fowler wing flaps and
hydraulic folding wings. Both proved problematic, and they and were
replaced with conventional flaps and manual wing folding. "Kate" saw
its first combat over China, where
it was escorted by A5M "Claude"
fighters and
performed well in the ground support role.
Equipped with a robust and reliable aerial torpedo, the Kate sank more Allied ships than any other aircraft type. However, like most torpedo bombers, "Kate" was slow, clumsy, and vulnerable to antiaircraft and fighters. A particular weakness of the original model was that it had no forward-firing guns whatsoever.
The normal crew was three, but the observer in the second seat of the tandem cockpit was sometimes left behind to save weight.
After "Kate" was replaced in front line service
by the B6N "Jill", the surviving
aircraft
were relegated to reconnaissance
and antisubmarine duty. Some
were retrofitted with surface search radar
(as in the example shown in the first photograph) and magnetic anomaly
submarine detection gear.
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References
Francillon
(1979)
Peattie (2001)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2010, 2014 by Kent G. Budge. Index
