Offered by Over The Blue Horizon and recently acquired in Tokyo is a superbly illustrated book from the vintage but still well-regarded Famous Airplanes of the World (FAOW) series: “NAVY INTERCEPTOR RAIDEN” better known in the West as the MITSUBISH J2M JACK.

The FAOW series began publication in the late 1960s and are highly illustrated monographs focusing on a specific aircraft or family of aircraft.  Text is in Japanese, but the photographs, scale line drawings, cut-away drawings, cockpit diagrams, close-up detail drawings and profiles transcend the written word and have appealed to aviation historians and advanced aircraft hobbyists to this day.  The formats and covers have slightly changed over the years.  Originally, the FAOW covers were White and beginning in 1971, changed to Blue.  In 1979, the FAOW covers changed to a Chart or Graph-paper background, and then in 1986, changed to the current Black Cover series.

This FAOW was published in 1985 as Volume 150 from the Chart Cover series and features the Imperial Japanese Navy MITSUBISHI J2M JACK interceptor.  The RAIDEN (Thunderbolt) was designed to a 1939 Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) requirement emphasizing speed and climb rate rather than the IJN’s customary emphasis on range and maneuverability.  This design challenge was taken up by Jiro Horikoshi, designer of the famed A6M Zero, who produced a stubby, single engine, tightly-cowled design with air racer-like features.  After the prototype’s first flights in March 1942, criticisms from the Navy test pilots abounded, among them high landing speed, lack of maneuverability, and poor pilot vision. Modifications to rectify these shortcomings were delayed owing to Mitsubishi's production preoccupations with the A6M ZERO, and production JACK fighters did not enter service until late 1943.  Although never popular with its pilots, the JACK offered good speed (360 MPH), and subsequent variants were even faster and more heavily armed – the final version packed four 20MM cannon. As the IJN’s role in air defense of the Japanese homeland increased, the capabilities offered by the JACK in intercepting the high-flying B-29s were better appreciated.  In all, almost 500 JACKs were built.

This well-illustrated publication on the JACK has the typical FAOW format -- numerous b/w photographs, line drawings, and color profiles of this fascinating aircraft.  Condition of this 56-page, 7.25 x 10.25 inch softcover is GOOD/GOOD+ with light/moderate shelf wear to the covers. Note that Over the Blue Horizon ships from the USA with FREE United States Postal Service (USPS) 1^st CLASS shipping to USA buyers! eBay charges sales tax for certain states; Over the Blue Horizon charges Hawaii residents state general excise tax. Your purchase will be carefully wrapped to ensure that it arrives in the same condition as described in the eBay listing.  If you are not happy with your purchase for whatever reason, we will work something out -- your satisfaction is GUARANTEED.  Regardless of where you are in the world, buy with confidence from a well-established eBay merchant with a sterling reputation and an exceptionally high customer satisfaction rate.