User talk:IJN watcher

Re: Floatplanes launched during Pearl Harbor Raid

It says, "That day, 7 December 1941, Tone and Chikuma each launched one Aichi E13A1 "Jake" floatplane for a final weather reconnaissance over Oahu. At 0630, Tone and Chikuma each launched short-range Nakajima E4N2 Type 90-2 Reconnaissance Seaplane to act as pickets and patrol south of the Striking Force."

The question I have is that the E4N Seaplanes were listed as obsolete in 1941; R. J. Francillon, Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, pg. 558. There isn't even an Allied Code Name for it; even misidentified aircraft were preemptively given names which were then clarified as to the exact aircraft it was.

Could this have been another type of floatplane sent out as pickets? What sources do you have for the E4N?