Nakajima B5N2 'Kate' From the 'Akagi', flown by Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, Strike Force Leader, First Wave level-bomber force.
When the Pacific War exploded in all its fury on December 7, 1941, the Nakajima B5N2 carrier torpedo bomber was the best in service with any of the world?s navies. One hundred and forty-four aircraft of this type participated in the Pearl Harbor attack as torpedo and level bombers and they crippled the American Pacific Fleet?s battleship force.
During the following twelve months, carrier-based B5N2's were to participate in sinking three American aircraft carriers, while land- and carrier-based B5N2s supported Japanese amphibious landings on all fronts. But by 1944, the Kate, as it was code-named by the Allies, was plainly obsolete, and so it finished out the war in second-line units, mainly as an anti-submarine patrol plane
When the Pacific War exploded in all its fury on December 7, 1941, the Nakajima B5N2 carrier torpedo bomber was the best in service with any of the world?s navies. One hundred and forty-four aircraft of this type participated in the Pearl Harbor attack as torpedo and level bombers and they crippled the American Pacific Fleet?s battleship force.
During the following twelve months, carrier-based B5N2's were to participate in sinking three American aircraft carriers, while land- and carrier-based B5N2s supported Japanese amphibious landings on all fronts. But by 1944, the Kate, as it was code-named by the Allies, was plainly obsolete, and so it finished out the war in second-line units, mainly as an anti-submarine patrol plane
