Nakajima E2N

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The Nakajima E2N was a Japanese reconnaissance seaplane made for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1920s. It was a single-engine, two-seat, wooden aircraft with two main floats and folding wings. The E2N was designed to be launched by catapult from cruisers and battleships for short‑range reconnaissance missions. It carried a crew of two in open cockpits and was powered by a Mitsubishi Hi liquid‑cooled engine. Its layout offered a better downward view than some competing designs, and in 1927 it became Japan’s first locally designed shipboard reconnaissance seaplane.

E2N2 was a trainer version produced from 1928–1929 that added dual controls. Eighty examples were built between 1927–1929 by Nakajima and Kawanishi, with two sold for civilian fishery patrol duties.

Front‑line Navy units began to replace the E2N in the early 1930s, as the E2N1 gave way to the Nakajima E4N, with remaining aircraft reassigned to training or sold. The E2N2 trainer stayed in use a bit longer, serving with the Kasamigaura Kōkūtai until 1936.