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- 1. J1N-7s: SDASM Archives· Public domain
what is it?
The Nakajima J1N Gekkō (月光; moonlight) is a twin-engined heavy fighter designed and produced by the Nakajima Aircraft Company. It was assigned the Allied reporting name Irving. The J1N was developed during the late 1930s and early 1940s at the behest of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN).
How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · 17 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 85 years ago, in 1941.
- Top speed is 3.9× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 17 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Range of 2,545 km: 14× Amsterdam to Brussels.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1941-05
- introduced
- 1942
- retired
- 1945
- status
- retired
- number built
- 479
- role
- heavy fighter, night fighter
- origin
- Empire of Japan
- makers
- Nakajima
- engines
- 2× Nakajima NK1F Sakae 21
- crew
- 2
- length
- 12.8 m
- wingspan
- 17 m
- height
- 4.6 m
- max take-off weight
- 8,184 kg
- top speed
- 507 km/h
- cruise speed
- 333 km/h
- range
- 2,545 km
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q673413, Wikipedia: Nakajima J1N Gekkō (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.