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J1N1-S Gekko "Irving" |
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Photo: Robert Deering 11/13/2007 Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Dulles International Airport (BFI) Chantilly, Virginia |
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Originally
designed as a three-seat, daylight escort fighter plane by
the Nakajima Aeroplane Company, Ltd., and flown in 1941, the
IRVING was modified as a night fighter in May of 1943 and
shot down two American B-17 bombers to prove its capability.
The Gekko (meaning moonlight) was redesigned to hold only
two crewmen so that an upward firing gun could be mounted
where the observer once sat. Nearly five hundred J1N1
aircraft, including prototypes, escort, reconnaissance, and
night fighters were built during World War II. A sizeable
number were also used as Kamikaze aircraft in the Pacific.
The few that survived the war were scrapped by the Allies. This J1N1 is the last remaining in the world. It was transported from Japan to the U.S. where it was flight tested by the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1946. The Gekko then flew to storage at Park Ridge, IL, and was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. The restoration of this aircraft, completed in 1983, took more than four years and 17,000 man-hours to accomplish. |
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