The Nakajima A4N was a
carrier-based
fighter used by the
Imperial Japanese Navy, and the last
biplane designed by Nakajima. The first prototype was completed in
1934, but due to engine trouble, the aircraft did not see service until
1936. Given the Nakajima internal designation Nakajima YM, the Japanese Navy designation was Navy Type 95 Carrier Fighter. A total of 221 were built.[1] It saw combat in the Second Sino-Japanese War in the late 1930s.
In 1935 there was a combat trial of many aircraft including the A4N, prototypes, and older aircraft in which the A5M and Ki 10 prototype were considered the most maneuverable.[4]
The Nakajima A4N1 was succeeded by the
Mitsubishi A5M Type 96, a monoplane fighter.[5]
Service
The A4N was one of the aircraft types involved in the
Panay incident, in which Japanese forces sunk the
USS Panay river gunboat. Three
Yokosuka B4Y Type 96 bombers and nine Nakajima A4N Type 95 fighters attacked the boat.[6][7] In addition to bombing the Panay, they also strafed the lifeboat evacuating wounded to shore.[7] The USS Panay was evacuating nationals and foreigners, as Japanese aircraft were there in Shanghai because of the Sino-Japanese war, with the incident being resolved diplomatically.
In the
Second Sino-Japanese War, A4Ns were used to escort G3M medium bombers starting in August after they proved vulnerable to the Chinese Air Force.[8]
^Khazanov, Dmitriy; Medved, Aleksander; Young, Edward M.; Holmes, Tony (2019). Air Combat: Dogfights of World War II. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 102.
^Swanson, Harland J. (December 1967). "The Panay Incident: Prelude to Pearl Harbor". United States Naval Institute Proceedings. {{
cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (
help)
Mikesh, Robert C.; Abe, Shorzoe (1990). Japanese Aircraft, 1910-1941. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books.
ISBN0-85177-840-2.
Passingham, Malcolm (November 1995). "Les premiers chasseurs embarqués Nakajima (3e partie): Le A4N1 Type 95" [The First Nakajima Carrier Fighters, Part 3: The A4N1 Type 95]. Avions: Toute l'aéronautique et son histoire (in French) (33): 7–13.
ISSN1243-8650.
1 X as second letter is for experimental aircraft or imported technology demonstrators not intended for service,
2 Hyphenated trailing letter (-J, -K, -L, -N or -S) denotes design modified for secondary role, 3 Possibly incorrect designation, but used in many sources