See more photos of this, and the Wikipedia article. Originally designed as a three-seat, daylight escort fighter plane by the Nakajima Aeroplane Company, Ltd.
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. Army Air Forces in The restoration of this aircraft, completed in , took more than four years and 17, man-hours to accomplish.
Nakajima Hikoki K. Boeing's B Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Although designed to fight in the European theater, the B found its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, Bs delivered a variety of aerial weapons: conventional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons.
Three days later, Bockscar on display at the U. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. A third B, The Great Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on both missions.
