World War Photos

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In 1928, the Navy Air Command purchased for experimental purposes the Boeing 69B U.S. fighter plane, which was an export version of the U.S. Boeing F2B-1 naval fighter, which was then compared with the Japanese Nakajima A1N that had just been introduced into naval aviation. At the time, it turned out that the American aircraft had better performance, and so the Nakajima company was tasked with improving its A1N aircraft to have better performance, with the intention of using solutions from the American plane. The aircraft was initially given the factory designation Nakajima NY, but was eventually given the military designation Nakajima A2N2. The aircraft prototype was ready in December 1929 and was also flown immediately. Its design was similar to the Nakajima A1N, but the wingtips were tapered similarly to the Boeing 69B. It was equipped with a licensed Bristol Jupiter VI engine with 450 hp. Its armament was 1 Type 87 cal. 7.7 mm machine gun. In 1930, the aircraft was tested in an experimental unit of the Japanese Air Force. During these tests, it was found to be only marginally better than the A1N aircraft, so it was not put into series production.

At that time, however, another prototype aircraft was developed and was ready May 1931. Submitted for testing, it gained acceptance and went into production under the designation A2N2. The aircraft had increased armament and used a new Nakajima Kotobuki 2 engine.
Already after the start of production of the A2N2 version, a new prototype was built, designated A2N3, which had a slightly changed design, used an improved engine Nakajima Kotobuki 2 Kai 1. The design of this aircraft became the basis for the development of a two-seat version of the aircraft used for advanced training of fighter pilots. This version served as the basis for the development of the Nakajima A3N training aircraft.
Series production of the Nakajima A2N aircraft continued until 1936, and a total of about 100 Nakajima A2N aircraft of all versions were produced between 1932 and 1936.