During the Battle of the Coral Sea on May 7, 1942 a two Japanese carrier attack planes B5N2 (EI-306 and probably EI-302) flying reconnaissance mission from the carrier Shokaku ditched on Indispensable Reef due to lack of fuel.
Replicas of the B5N2s were made from U.S. North American T-6 Texan trainers, and Aichi D3A dive bombers were created using BT-13 Valiant training aircraft, which were modified to represent Japanese aircraft for the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!, and have been used in a number of movies and airshows since to depict the aircraft.
Nakajima B5N | Nakajima Ki-44 | Nakajima Ki-43 | Nakajima Aircraft Company | Miyuki Nakajima | Nakajima Ki-44 'Tojo' | Nakajima B5N 'Kate' | Nakajima A6M2-N | Yuto Nakajima | Yu Nakajima | Shigeo Nakajima | Nakajima LB-2 | Nakajima Kikka | Nakajima Ki-27 | Nakajima E8N | Nakajima E4N | Kazuki Nakajima | Hiroyuki Nakajima | Chikuhei Nakajima |
Her aircraft complement consisted of six Mitsubishi A5M "Claude" and six Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" fighters, and twelve Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bombers.
A group of approximately ten Mitsubishi A6M 'Zeke', Nakajima Ki-44 'Tojo' and Ki-43 'Oscar' single seat fighters, and Nakajima B5N 'Kate' three seat torpedo bombers began their attack on the Task Unit shortly after 09:10, as the LSTs were positioning for their landings.