Nakajima D3N

The Nakajima D3N, also designated the Experimental 11-Shi Carrier Bomber and the Nakajima DB, was a Japanese carrier-based dive bomber of the 1930s. The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service issued a specification in 1936 for a low-wing monoplane to replace the Aichi D1A biplane, and Aichi, Mitsubishi and Nakajima put forward proposals. Nakajima based its design on its C3N reconnaissance aircraft and B5N torpedo bomber, an all-metal single-engined monoplane with folding wings and a nine-cylinder Nakajima Hikari radial engine, with the main wheels designed to be lowered as dive brakes. The first of three prototypes flew in 1937 and the other two in 1939, but the Aichi D3A was ordered into production in December 1939. The second prototype stayed with Nakajima as a testbed for the Sakae and Homare engines until 1945.