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.



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. 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. 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.

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. 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.

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. 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.

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.



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,, 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.

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. In 1946, another captured L2D2 was used by the French VVS in military operations in Indochina. Postwar, other L2Ds were located in the Pacific as either crashed or abandoned aircraft, and none exist today.

Civil

 * CNAC
 * Great Northern Airways
 * Japan Air Transport
 * Imperial Japanese Airways
 * Japan Air Transport
 * Imperial Japanese Airways

Military

 * French Air Force
 * Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
 * Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
 * Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service


 * Fleet
 * Combined Fleet
 * 3rd Fleet
 * 4th Fleet
 * 1st Air Fleet
 * 3rd Air Fleet
 * 11th Air Fleet
 * 12th Air Fleet
 * 13th Air Fleet
 * 14th Air Fleet
 * 1st Mobile Fleet
 * Southwest Area Fleet
 * Southeast Area Fleet
 * Northeast Area Fleet
 * Central Pacific Area Fleet
 * 1st Southern Expeditionary Fleet
 * 2nd Southern Expeditionary Fleet
 * 3rd Southern Expeditionary Fleet
 * 4th Southern Expeditionary Fleet
 * China Area Fleet
 * General Escort Command
 * 1st Escort Fleet


 * Air Flotilla and Naval Air Group
 * 12th Combined Air Group / 12th Air Flottila
 * 21st Air Flotilla
 * 23rd Air Flotilla
 * 201st Naval Air Group
 * 203rd Naval Air Group
 * 256th Naval Air Group
 * 701st Naval Air Group
 * 901st Naval Air Group
 * 951st Naval Air Group
 * 1st Airlift Group / 1001st Naval Air Group
 * 1021st Naval Air Group
 * 1022nd Naval Air Group
 * 1023rd Naval Air Group
 * 1081st Naval Air Group
 * Naval District and Guard District
 * Kure Naval District
 * Yokosuka Naval District
 * Sasebo Naval District
 * Ōminato Guard District
 * Takao Guard District
 * Chinkai Guard District
 * Kainantō Guard District

Variants



 * 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.