Nakajima A1N2

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. By 1926, the Imperial Japanese Navy's Mitsubishi 1MF fighters (also known as Type 10 Carrier Fighters) were in need of replacement and so it asked three of th... more

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. By 1926, the Imperial Japanese Navy's Mitsubishi 1MF fighters (also known as Type 10 Carrier 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 from the British company Gloster Aircraft a license for production of their Gloster Gambet, a private venture by the company for a carrie-based derivative of the Gloster Gamecock. The first prototype Gambet was built by Gloster and flew on 12 December 1927. The prototype Gambet was shipped to Japan early in 1928. After modification and fitted with a Nakajima-built Bristol Jupiter engine, the Gambet was... less