Nakajima Sakae


The Nakajima Sakae was a two-row, 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine used in a number of combat aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II.

Design and development

The engine was designed by Nakajima Aircraft Company with code name NAM, as a scaled-down and advanced version of the previous NAL design. The Imperial Japanese Army Air Force called the first of the series the Ha-25 and later versions were designated Ha35, Ha105 and Ha115, while the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service designation was Nakajima NK1, with sub-types identified by Model numbers; thus Nakajima NK1 Sakae 10, 20 and 30 series.
A total of 21,166 were made by Nakajima; 9,067 were manufactured by other firms.

Variants

;Army Type 99 975 hp Air-cooled Radial
;Nakajima Ha25
;Nakajima Ha35
;Nakajima Ha105
;Nakajima Ha115
;Nakajima NK1

Applications

A small number of original Sakae powerplants are on display in aviation museums, usually mounted into the airframes of restored Mitsubishi A6M Zeros - only one airworthy Zero worldwide still flies with a restored Sakae powerplant, the Planes of Fame Museum's A6M5 example, bearing tail number "61-120".

Specifications (Sakae 21)