In the final days of World War II, Japan’s final attempt at keeping pace with the aeronautical power of the Allies was in the form of the Nakajima Kikka’s solitary and first flight on August 7, 1945. The “Orange Blossom” or “Imperial Weapon No. 2” jet fighter took to the skies as a demonstration of its prowess, under the shadow of apocalyptic events which would soon declare Japan doomed.
The history of the Nakajima Kikka cannot be separated from that of Nazi Germany’s legendary Messerschmitt Me 262 the world’s first mass-produced jet-fighter. The Japanese authorities were so shocked by news of the flight testing of the Me 262 in 1942 that they ordered the Nakajima company to create a similar type. Engineers Kazuo Ohno and Kenichi Matsumura led the difficult project that envisioned the construction of an airplane that could fly at more than 430 miles per hour, travel a minimum distance of 125 miles, and have the ability to carry a 1,100-pound load.
The Kikka design plans overwhelmed what the Germans had gotten themselves into, with such other features as two rocket boosters to provide the engine with more strength and hinged wings for easy camouflage within hidden underground tunnels. The ambitious project, however, got devastated, especially when Allied forces intercepted German U-Boat U-234, which was carrying technical materials en route to Japan that included important airplane parts and blueprints, on May 15, 1945.
Compounding the problems, Japanese engineers had operated from incomplete drawings and also faced engine developmental problems. Three engines had been tested before the Ne-20 was finally chosen, which was virtually a replica of the German BMW 003 turbojet. In spite of these problems, the Kikka was similar to the Me 262 but smaller and even more conventional in design. with straight wings as compared to the swept wings of the German jet.
In its first flight, the Kikka was piloted by Lieutenant Commander Susumu Takaoka, and it opened the doors for Japan into jet propulsion. But the second flight on August 11 was a crash into the Tokyo Bay when the takeoff-assist rockets were improperly aligned. Four days later, the program and Japan’s war plans came to an untimely end as Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945.
With a touch of historical irony, the Kikka was first tested a day after the U.S. Army Air Force’s B-29 bomber “Enola Gay” tested when it released an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, highlighting the fast pace in warfare technology and its uneven contribution to the turn of the war.
After the failure of the war, there may have been a dozen or so Kikka prototypes in various states of completion. A few had been shipped to the United States and studied, and now there are two examples at the National Air and Space Museum. One was to be subjected to load test, but not flight testing, and this provided some indication of how the design withstood the stress.
The possible effect of the Nakajima Kikka, if it had been finished and used in quantity, is a point of contention among historians and aeronautics professionals. Some consider the notion that, similar to Germany’s “wonder weapons,” the Kikka came too late to make a difference
