Showa/Nakajima L2D

The Shōwa L2D and Nakajima L2D, given the designations: Shōwa Navy Type 0 Transport and Nakajima Navy Type 0 Transport, were license-built versions of the Douglas DC-3. The L2D series, numerically, was the most important Japanese transport in World War II. The L2D was given the Allied code name Tabby.

A captured Shōwa L2D3 or L2D3-L in US markings, Mindanao, Philippines, May 1945

Design and development

After successful license production acquired in 1935 of the earlier Douglas DC-2, Nakajima Hikoki acquired the license rights for $90,000 in February 1938, to build the DC-3.^[2] Previously, the Great Northern Airways and the Far East Fur Trading Company had purchased 22 DC-3s from 1937–1939. This total consisted of 13 Cyclone powered DC-3s and nine Twin Wasp powered DC-3As, two of which were delivered un-assembled and assigned to a relatively new concern, Shōwa Aircraft.^[3] Both Shōwa and Nakajima worked in concert to create a production series. Although the L2D was intended for both civil and military application, the production run was largely reserved for the Japanese military as the Navy Type 0 Transport.^[4]

The Nakajima prototype, powered by Pratt & Whitney SB3G radial engines, first flew in October 1939 and entered production in 1940 as the L2D1 with parts imported from the U.S. while the two Shōwa examples were being assembled to Japanese production standards to simplify manufacture.^[5] Differing in minor details, mainly due to the use of locally-produced Mitsubishi Kinsei 43 radial engines of similar power, the initial series from both companies were very similar to its Douglas antecedent.^[4]

By 1942, Nakajima had built, including the prototype, 71 L2D2 Navy Type 0 Transport Model 11s and then embarked on manufacturing combat aircraft of their own design. Shōwa, once their factory and production line was complete, built the next series, a total of 416 aircraft, including 75 cargo versions with the "barn door," and reinforced floor (designated L2D2 1). The first Japanese military version was equipped with wide cargo doors, essentially mirroring the U.S. C-47, appearing about the same time.^[5] Other L2D variants, while normally unarmed, the L2D4 and L2D4-1 variants carried one flexible 13 mm Type 2 machine gun in a dorsal turret in the navigator's dome and two flexible 7.7 mm Type 92 machine guns that could be fired from fuselage hatches, but this armament configuration was not a production standard.^[4]

Although the Japanese civil versions were nearly identical to their Douglas equivalent, the military variants, while visually similar, were substantially different. The Kinsei 51/53 engines had 1,325 hp (975 kW) and featured enlarged nacelles and large propeller spinners, while the cockpit bulkhead was moved back 40 inches (100 cm) so all four crew members forward were in one compartment, with three extra windows added behind the cockpit. The most radical changes to the original design came about due to wartime exigencies in shortages of strategic materials, that led to metal components in less critical structural areas being replaced by wood. As many as 20 transports featured wooden rudders, stabilizers, ailerons, fins, elevators and entrance doors. An all-wood variant, the L2D5, was readied for production near the end of the war.^[5]

CNAC pilots with a captured Shōwa L2D3 or L2D3-L, c. 1945

Operational history

The original DC-3s operated by Dai Nippon Koku KK were impressed into Imperial service during the war, serving alongside the license-built L2Ds. The L2Ds served in the Southern Philippines Kokutai in squadrons (Butais) attached to the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th^{[citation needed]}, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Air Fleets (Koku Kantais) as well as the Combined Fleet (Rengo Kantai) and to the China Area and Southwest Area Fleets. With the large load capacity inherent in all L2D variants, the types were used in all Japanese theaters, as both a passenger and cargo transport, playing an important role in supply of the distant garrisons on the islands of Pacific Ocean and new Guinea. They were also adapted to serve as staff and communications aircraft as well as in the maritime surveillance role.^[6]

Relatively few of the Shōwa/Nakajima L2Ds survived the war, although at least one captured example was in service with the National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) during 1945, serving along with DC-3s acquired pre-war.^[7] In 1946, another captured L2D2 was used by the French VVS in military operations in Indochina.^[8] Postwar, other L2Ds were located in the Pacific as either crashed or abandoned aircraft, and none exist today.^[9]

Operators

Civil

 Republic of China

• CNAC

 Japan

• Great Northern Airways
• Japan Air Transport
• Imperial Japanese Airways

Military

 France

• French Air Force

 Japan^[10][11]

• Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service

Variants

L2D2 C-1 of the China Area Fleet

L2D3a postwar

^[12][13][14]

L2D1 Navy D1 Transport (海軍D一号輸送機 Kaigun D1-Gō Yusōki)

Knock down production two DC-3s supplied for evaluation by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service.

L2D2 Type 0 Transport Model 11 (零式輸送機11型 Reishiki Yusōki 11-gata)

Personnel transports with Mitsubishi Kinsei 43 radials. Initial named Navy D2 Transport (海軍D二号輸送機 Kaigun D2-Gō Yusōki).

L2D2-L Type 0 Freighter Model 11 (零式荷物輸送機11型 Reishiki Nimotsu-Yusōki 11-gata)

Cargo version of the L2D2 with enlarged cargo door.

L2D3 Type 0 Transport Model 22 (零式輸送機22型 Reishiki Yusōki 22-gata)

L2D2 re-engined with Mitsubishi Kinsei 51, Kinsei 52 or Kinsei 53 engines, each at 1,300 hp (957 kW)–1,325 hp (975 kW). Increased side cockpit glass.

L2D3-L Type 0 Freighter Model 22 (零式荷物輸送機22型 Reishiki Nimotsu-Yusōki 22-gata)

Cargo version of the L2D3.

L2D3a Type 0 Transport Model 22A (零式輸送機22甲型 Reishiki Yusōki 22 Kō-gata)

Armed versions L2D3 with a 13 mm machine gun in a dorsal turret and two 7.7 mm machine guns in the left and right fuselage hatches.

L2D3a-L Type 0 Freighter Model 22A (零式荷物輸送機22甲型 Reishiki Nimotsu-Yusōki 22 Kō-gata)

Armed version of the L2D3-L, armaments were same as L2D3a.

L2D4 Type 0 Transport Model 23 (零式輸送機23型 Reishiki Yusōki 23-gata)

L2D3 re-engined with Mitsubishi Kinsei 62 engines, each at 1,590 hp (1,170 kW).

L2D4-L Provisional name Type 0 Freighter Model 23 (仮称零式荷物輸送機23型 Kashō Reishiki Nimotsu-Yusōki 23-gata)

Cargo version of the L2D4, prototype only.

L2D5 Provisional name Type 0 Transport Model 33 (仮称零式輸送機33型 Kashō Reishiki Yusōki 33-gata)

Wooden version, replacement of steel components with wood; used two Mitsubishi Kinsei 62 engines, incomplete.

Specifications (Shōwa/Nakajima L2D2)

Data from Showa/Nakajima L2D2 'Tabby' ^[15]

General characteristics

• Crew: 2-4 (up to 5 carried in some configurations)
• Capacity: 21 passengers
• Length: 65 ft (19.72 m)
• Wingspan: 94.86 ft (28.96 m)
• Height: 16 ft 11 in (5.16 m)
• Wing area: 987 ft² (91.6 m²)
• Empty weight: 15,675 lb (7,125 kg)
• Loaded weight: 23,980 lbs (10,900 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 × Mitsubishi Kinsei 43, 1,080 hp (795 kW) each
• Propellers: 3-bladed

Performance

• Maximum speed: 220 mph (354 kph)
• Cruise speed: 187 mph (301 kph)
• Range: 1,996 mi (3,220 km)
• Service ceiling: 35,752 ft (10,900 m)
• Rate of climb: 1,130 ft/min (5.73 m/s) initial
• Wing loading: 25.5 lb/ft² (125 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.0952 hp/lb (157 W/kg)

See also

Media related to L2D (transport aircraft) at Wikimedia Commons

Related development

• Douglas DC-3
• Douglas C-47 Skytrain
• Lisunov Li-2

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando
• Fiat G.18
• Junkers Ju 52

Related lists

• List of civil aircraft
• List of aircraft of World War II

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Showa L2D.

• L2D shot down in flames