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- 1. B5M Type 97 Carrier Attack Bomber Mabel B5M-9s: Wikimedia Commons· Public domain
what is it?
The Mitsubishi B5M was an Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) land-based attack aircraft, originally intended for aircraft carrier use. The B5M was also given the long formal designation Navy Type 97 Mk.2 Carrier Attack Bomber (Japanese: 九七式二号艦上攻撃機) and Allied reporting name of Mabel. This aircraft was mistakenly known as the Nakajima Army 97 by the British.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 15.3 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 89 years ago, in 1937.
- Top speed is 2.9× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 15.3 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
- Range of 2,322 km: 13× Amsterdam to Brussels.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1937
- introduced
- 1937
- number built
- 125
- role
- attack aircraft
- origin
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- makers
- Mitsubishi
- engines
- 1× Mitsubishi MK8 Kinsei 43
- crew
- 3
- length
- 10.3 m
- wingspan
- 15.3 m
- height
- 4.2 m
- max take-off weight
- 4,000 kg
- top speed
- 381 km/h
- range
- 2,322 km
- ceiling
- 8,260 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q2609888, Wikipedia: Mitsubishi B5M (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.