Japanese Aircraft Engines

Japanese workers building a Japanese aircraft engine.

 

This is a list of aircraft engines used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. 

Japanese Aero Engine Designations

Manufacturer	Army exp.	Army long	Navy exp.	Navy Name	Manuf. desig.	Unified	Notes
Nakajima	Ha-1	Army Type 97 650hp Air-cooled Radial		Kotobuki (longevity)	AH		License-built Bristol Jupiter
Mitsubishi	Ha-2	Army Type 93 700hp Water Cooled In-line
Nakajima	Ha-5	Army Type 97 825hp Air Cooled Radial			NAL
Mitsubishi	Ha-6		MK1	Shinten (progress)	A6(7)		14 cyl. radial
Nakajima	Ha-8	Army Type 94 550hp Air Cooled Radial		Hikari (light)	NAP
Kawasaki	Ha-9	Army Type 98 850hp Liquid Cooled In-line					License-built BMW VI
Hitachi	Ha-12	Army Type 95 150hp Air Cooled Radial
Hitachi	Ha-13	Army Type 95 350hp Air Cooled Radial
Hitachi	Ha-13a	Army Type 98 450hp Air Cooled Radial
Nakajima	Ha-25	Army Type 99 975hp Air Cooled Radial / Army Type 99 950hp Air Cooled Radial	NK1B/C	Sakae (prosperity)	NAM	Ha-35
Mitsubishi	Ha-26	Army Type 99 900hp Air Cooled Radial	MK2	Zuisei (holy star)	A14	Ha-31
Hitachi	Ha-38						600 hp 9-cyl radial
Nakajima	Ha-39
Kawasaki	Ha-40	Army Type 2 1,100hp Liquid Cooled In-line				Ha-60	License built Daimler DB601A
Nakajima	Ha-41	Army Type 100 1,250hp Air Cooled Radial	NK5			Ha-34
Hitachi	Ha-42						9-cyl radial
Nakajima	Ha-45	Army Type 4 1,900 hp Air-cooled Radial	NK9	Homare (honor / praise)	NBA	Ha-45
Hitachi	Ha-47	Army Type 4 110hp Air Cooled Inline	GK4	Hatsukaze (fresh wind)		Ha-11	License-built Hirth HM 504
Mitsubishi	Ha-101	Army Type 100 1,450hp Air Cooled Radial	MK4	Kasei (Mars)	A10	Ha-32
Mitsubishi	Ha-102	Army Type 100 1,050hp Air Cooled Radial	MK2	Zuisei (holy star)	A14	Ha-31
Nakajima	Ha-103		NK7A	Mamoru (protector)	NAK	Ha-36
Mitsubishi	Ha-104	Army Type 4 1,900hp Air Cooled Radial				Ha-42	18-cylinder version of Ha-101
Nakajima	Ha-105
Nakajima	Ha-109	Army Type 2 1,450hp Air Cooled Radial	NK5			Ha-34
Mitsubishi	Ha-111	Army Type 100 1,450hp Air Cooled Radial	MK4	Kasei (Mars)	A10	Ha-32
Mitsubishi	Ha-112	Army Type 4 1,500hp Air Cooled Radial	MK8	Kinsei (Venus)	A8	Ha-33	Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet development
Nakajima	Ha-115	Army Type 1 1,150hp Air Cooled Radial	NK1F	Sakae (prosperity)
Nakajima	Ha-117				BD	Ha-47
Mitsubishi	Ha-118		MK11A
Kawasaki	Ha-140						liquid-cooled V-12
Nakajima	Ha-145
Kawasaki	Ha-201					Ha-72	coupled Ha-40 engines
Mitsubishi	Ha-211		MK9		A20	Ha-43
Mitsubishi	Ha-214		MK10
Nakajima	Ha-219		NK11A		BH	Ha-44
Nakajima	Ha-315
Nakajima	Ha-505				D-BH	Ha-54	projected 5,000 hp 36-cyl radial engine
Aichi			AE1		Atsuta		license-built Daimler DB 601A
Aichi						Ha-70	Coupled Atsuta engines
Hiro		Hiro Type 14 500 hp Water Cooled W-12			Type 14
Hiro		Hiro Type 90 600 hp Water Cooled W-12			Type 90		500 hp W-12 (Lorraine 12F Courlis development)
Hiro		Hiro Type 91 520 hp Water Cooled W-12			Type 91		500 hp W-12 (Lorraine 12Eb development)
Hiro		Hiro Type 94 900 hp Liquid Cooled In-line			Type 94
Hitachi / Gasuden				breeze (Hatakaze)
Hitachi / Gasuden				encampment wind (Jimpu)			150 - 160 hp 7 cyl. radial
Hitachi / Gasuden					divine wind (Kamikaze)		160 hp 7-cyl. radial
Hitachi			GK2	heavenly wind (Amakaze) / heavenly father (Tempu)
Hitachi						Ha-23	4-cyl inverted in-line
Ishikawajima Shibauru Turbine Company / Yokosuka (Kugisho)					Ne-20		turbojet
Ishikawajima Shibauru Turbine Company					Ne-30		turbojet
Ishikawajima Shibauru Turbine Company					Ne-130		turbojet
Kawasaki		Army Type 95 800hp Liquid Cooled In-line					liquid-cooled V-12 (BMW VI)
Maru Industries					Ka10		license-built Argus As 014 pulsejet
Mitsubishi					A2		320 hp
Mitsubishi					A4		760 hp
Mitsubishi					A9
Mitsubishi		Army Type 92 400hp Air Cooled Radial			A5	Ha-33
Mitsubishi					Ne-330		turbojet
Mitsubishi					Tokuro-1 Ro.1
Mitsubishi		Army Type 3 Rocket	KR10		Tokuro-2 Ro.2		license-built Walter HWK 509
Mitsubishi		Army Type 2 Rocket			Tokuro-3 Ro.3
					Ne-12		turbojet
Nakajima - Hitachi					Ne-230		turbojet
Ishikawajima					Tsu-11		Motorjet
		Navy Type 4 Model 1 solid fuel rocket
Kobe					Argus As 10

Foreign Aircraft Engines 

Engines acquired before the conflict, provided from Axis allies, or captured during the war.

• ADC Cirrus Hermes IV (130 hp)
• Allison V-1710-39 (1,150 hp)
• Argus As 10C (240 hp)[1]
• Argus As 109-014 (300 kg thrust)
• Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar IVC (400 hp)
• BMW VI (750 hp)
• BMW IX (500-800 hp)
• BMW 132E (660 hp)
• BMW 132K (900 hp)
• BMW 801D-2 (1,700 hp)
• BMW 801E (1,900 hp)
• BMW 109-003E-1 (800 kg thrust)
• BMW 109-003E-2 (800 kg thrust)
• Bramo 323R-2 Fafnir (1,200 hp)
• Bristol Jupiter VI (390 hp)
• Bristol Jupiter VII (500 hp)
• Bristol Mercury VIS2 (640 hp)
• Daimler-Benz DB 600G (960 hp)
• Daimler-Benz DB601 Modified Water Cooled Engine (1,550 hp)
• Daimler-Benz DB 601Aa (1,175 hp)
• Daimler Benz DB 601F (1,350 hp)
• Fiat A.80 R.C.41 (1,000 hp)
• Hirth HM 504A-2 (105 hp)
• Hirth HM 508H (240 hp)
• Hispano-Suiza 12Xcrs (690 hp)
• Junkers Jumo 205C-4 (660 hp)
• Junkers Jumo 210C (600 hp)
• Junkers Jumo 210Ca (640 hp)
• Junkers Jumo 210G (700 hp)
• Junkers Jumo 210Ea (680 hp)
• Junkers L5 (280 hp)
• Klimov M-103 (960 hp)
• Klimov M-105PF (1,210 hp)
• Lorraine-Dietrich 12Eb (450 hp)
• Lorraine 12Hfrs Petrel (780 hp)
• Lorraine 12Hgrs Petrel (780 hp)
• Menasco L-365-1 (125 hp)
• Pratt & Whitney R-1690-C (600 hp)
• Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 (1,200 hp)
• Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10 of (2,000 hp)
• Rolls-Royce Kestrel V (608 hp)
• Shvetsov M-25V (750 hp)
• Shvetsov M-62 (1,000 hp)
• Shvetsov M-62R (1,000 hp)
• Wright SGR-1820-F52 (760 hp)
• Wright R-1820-102 (900 hp)
• Wright R-1820-G2 Cyclone (850 hp)
• Wright R-1820-G3B (900 hp)
• Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 (1,200 hp)
• Wright R-1820-40 (1,200 hp)
• Wright R-1820-44 (1,000 hp)
• Wright SGR-1820-F52 (760 hp)
• Wright R-3350-23 Cyclone 18 (2,000 hp) 

Japanese Aircraft Engine Identification Systems

Japanese aero-engines for military aircraft were given a wide variety of designations depending on the customer. This led to much confusion, particularly among the Allied forces, where a single engine type could have up to six different designations. This situation emerged because of the almost total lack of co-operation in weapons procurement between the IJAAS (Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun Kokutai - Imperial Japanese Army Air Service) and the IJNAS (Dai-Nippon Teikoku Kaigun Koukuu-tai - Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service).

Engines could have designations in any or all of these designation systems:

Army Hatsudoki experimental designation
    (Kawasaki Ha40)

Army long designation
    (e.g. Army Type 99 900hp Air Cooled Radial)

Navy experimental designation
    (Nakajima NK9B)

Navy Name designation
    ( Nakajima Homare 11)

Manufacturers designation
    (Nakajima NBA)

Unified system introduced by the Ministry of Munitions in April 1942
    (Kawasaki Ha-60)

Army Hatsudoki System

Experimental engines for Army aircraft were given Ha – (Hatsudoki) numbers whilst under design and testing. The Army Ha numbers had no intrinsic meaning and were only sequentially allocated. Sub types could be identified by suffixes -kai, -ko etc., or -I, -II etc.. e.g.: Nakajima Ha115

Army Long Designation System

Once an engine had been accepted for service in Army aircraft it was given a long designation which denoted the year of introduction, power, cooling method and layout:

e.g.:Army Type 100 1,450hp Air Cooled Radial – (Nakajima Ha111) The two or three digit Type number denoted the Japanese Imperial year (kōki) that the engine was introduced, identical to the Type numbers used in Japanese aircraft long designations from 1925 (From 1927 to 1930 the Type number sometimes denoted the Shōwa or Taisho year ):

After the Type number the power of the engine was denoted in horsepower:

    1250 hp

After the power designator the type of engine was denoted:

    Air-cooled Radial

Sub-types were designated by suffixes.

    Model 1

Navy Experimental Designation

The IJNAS introduced a designation system for experimental engines and those under development / test before production. Once the engine entered service this designation was replaced by the name or unified system. Formed from four character groups the IJNAS experimental designation system consisted of e.g. Nakajima NK9B

First character for manufacturer

A - Aichi

G - Hitachi

I - Ishikawajima

K - Kawasaki

M - Mitsubishi

N - Nakajima

Y - Naval Air Technical Arsenal (Yokosuka and Hiro)

Second character for engine attributes

K - Air cooled

E - Liquid Cooled

D - Diesel

Third Character for the design number

Fourth Character for the revision code

A - first revision

B - second revision, and so on.

Navy Name Designation

The simplest of all the systems the IJNAS allocated name characters to engines combined with Model and revision numbers, introduced to reduce confusion and also to reduce the intelligence value of the designation to enemies. e.g. Nakajima Homare 11 - (praise" or, more usually, "honor (誉, Homare))

Manufacturers Designation 

Some engines were never allocated a designation or there is no record of such. In which case they are usually identified by the manufacturers designation. e.g. Mitsubishi A4

Unified IJAAS / IJNAS Designation System 

From 1942 the Ministry of Munitions in Japan instituted a Unified aero engine designation system in an attempt to reduce confusion caused by previous systems. The new system prefixed engine designations with Ha – (Hatsudoki) followed by code numbers identifying each engine in terms of layout, no of cylinders, cooling method and sub-series model numbers.

Thus the Mitsubishi Ha-33-62 Kinsei

Mitsubishi - manufacturer

Ha (Hatsudoki) - engine

3 - air-cooled 14-cylinder double-row radial engine

3 - 140 mm bore, 150 mm stroke

62 - 60 series engine, second revision

Kinsei - name

Each engine designation in this system started with the Hatsudoki short hand character, represented by Ha in English, followed by two numbers classifying the engine:

The first digit represented the engine classification:

Air-cooled inline engine

Air-cooled single-row radial engine

Air-cooled 14-cylinder double-row radial engine

Air-cooled 18-cylinder double-row radial engine

Air-cooled, more than 18-cylinders, multi-row radial engine

Liquid-cooled 12-cylinder engine

Liquid-cooled, more than 12-cylinders engine

Diesel engine

Special engine

The second digit represented the bore and stroke of the engine:

130/160

140/130

150/170

140/150

140/160

130/150

After the classification digits a two digit number gave the model number and revision state.

Model numbers were given as:

00 – baseline Model, usually prototypes

10

20

30

40

50

60

etc,etc.

A revision (or modification) state number replaced the second digit of the model number:

10 – Model 10 baseline version

11 – Model 10 revision 1

12 – Model 10 revision 2

23 – Model 20 revision 3

62 – Model 60 revision 2

Coincidentally one engine was assigned the same numerical designation in the IJAAS and joint designation systems; Nakajima Ha-45 Homare.

Calendars and Type Numbers 

Gregorian calendar year	Type number (Army and Navy)	Imperial Japanese Calendar Year	Nengo Calendrical era	Navy exp.Shisaku number
1921	Type 10 (Taisho)	2581	Taisho 10
1922	Type 11 (Taisho)	2582	Taisho 11
1923	Type 12 (Taisho)	2583	Taisho 12
1924	Type 13 (Taisho)	2584	Taisho 13
1925	Type 14 (Taisho)	2585	Taisho 14
25/12/1926	Type 15 (Taisho)	25/12/2586	Taisho 15
26/12/1926		26/12/2586	Showa 1
1927	Type 87	2587	Showa 2
1928	Type 88	2588	Showa 3
1929	Type 89	2589	Showa 4
1930	Type 90	2590	Showa 5
1931	Type 91	2591	Showa 6	6-Shi
1932	Type 92	2592	Showa 7	7-Shi
1933	Type 93	2593	Showa 8	8-Shi
1934	Type 94	2594	Showa 9	9-Shi
1935	Type 95	2595	Showa 10	10-Shi
1936	Type 96	2596	Showa 11	11-Shi
1937	Type 97	2597	Showa 12	12-Shi
1938	Type 98	2598	Showa 13	13-Shi
1939	Type 99	2599	Showa 14	14-Shi
1940	Type 100 / Type 0	2600	Showa 15	15-Shi
1941	Type 1	2601	Showa 16	16-Shi
1942	Type 2	2602	Showa 17	17-Shi
1943	Type 3	2603	Showa 18	18-Shi
1944	Type 4	2604	Showa 19	19-Shi
1945	Type 5	2605	Showa 20	20-Shi