[Llarry]

The Imperial Japanese Navy had three types of fighter aircraft: Carrier fighters, land-based fighters and floatplane fighters. The latter two were meant to protect naval bases from enemy attack.

The carrier-based fighter category was dominated by Mitsubishi's A6M Type Zero carrier fighter -- Allied nickname "Zeke". By late World War II, the A6M was far overdue for replacement, yet unaccountably the IJN moved slowly. In the closing months of the war, Mitsubishi designed and flew an A7M carrier fighter (Allied "Sam"), but it was too late; only 10 were built as the Allied attacks on the Japanese homeland increased.

The Zero was also modified as a floatplane fighter. The Nakajima A6M2-N (Allied "Rufe") was produced from late 1941 to 1943 and saw combat in several operations, not achieving much success.

There were a couple of notable fighters in the land-based fighter category. Mitsubishi built hundreds of J2M Raiden (Allied "Jack") fighters. The J2M departed from the previous operational pattern; it was heavily armed (four 20 mm cannon) and fast, but less maneuverable that the Zero. None remain flying but see the attached photo of a J2M3 in a U.S. museum.

The other land-based fighter originated as a floatplane fighter and was designed by Kawanishi, producer of flying boats. The Kawanishi N1K Kyofu (Allied "Rex") entered service in 1943 and proved to have excellent flying qualities, but by then floatplane fighters were of limited use as airfields had been constructed on many Pacific islands.

Given the outstanding performance of the N1K, it was adapted for land-based use as the N1K-J and some 1,400+ were produced by the end of the war. The N1K-J was the best Navy fighter of the war and was even tested in prototype form as the N1K-A carrier fighter. The destruction of Japan's carrier fleet in 1942-44, however, made a carrier fighter superfluous. The land-based variants (Allied nickname "George") acquitted themselves well in the closing months of the war.