Nakajima L2D Type 0 ("Tabby")
The license to produce Douglas transports held by Nakajima saved Japan years of valuable development time, and made Pacific spotting difficult to both sides as they used the same basic transport. The Allied codename of "Tabby" was assigned to the militarized version of the Japanese built version of the Douglas DC-3. The type differed from the American version on only a few minor recognition points. In addition to the personnel transport version, other variants (such as the the L2D3-1 and L2D4-1) were configured to carry cargo instead of passengers. The L2Ds went into production in 1940. While normally unarmed, the L2D4 and L2D4-1 variants carried one flexible 13mm Type 2 machine gun in a dorsal turret and two flexible 7.7mm Type 92 machine guns that could be fired from fuselage hatches, but this type remained experimental only.
Nakajima L2D2
Type: Personnel and Cargo Transport
Service: Japanese Naval Air Force (JNAF)
Crew: crew of 3-5, plus 21 passengers (or 9900 lbs of freight)
Armament: normally none (see above)
Reference: Francillon: 499
Specifications:
Length: 64' 8.4" (19.72 m)
Height: 25' 5.75" (7.46 m)
Wingspan: 95' 0" (28.956 m)
Wing area: 985.97 sq. ft (91.6 sq. m)
Empty Weight: 15708 lbs (7125 kg)
Loaded Weight: 24030 lbs (10900 kg)
Propulsion:
No. of Engines: 2
Powerplant: Mitsubishi Kinsei 43 14-cylinder radial engine
Horsepower: 1080 hp each
Performance:
Range: 1740 naut miles (2003 st miles)
Cruise Speed: 161 mph (140 kt) at 6560 ft (2000 m)
Max Speed: 220 mph (191 kt) at 7875 ft (2400 m)
Climb to/in: 16,405 ft (5000 m) in 20 min 36 sec
Ceiling: 35,760 ft (10,900 m)
Production: 487 L2Ds total
Additional information on this aircraft
can be found at Wikipedia
HERE.
For a very nice scale color drawing of this aircraft, see here and here.
For a very nice scale color drawing of this aircraft, see here.
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