NAMC YS-11A-309 LV-JIJ Austral AEP 26.04.72 edited-2.jpg

The Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation ( ja, 日本航空機製造株式会社 ''Nihon Kōkūki Seizō Kabushiki-gaisha''), or NAMC, was the manufacturer of Japan's only successful civilian airliner, the YS-11.

Rather than an individual company in its own right, NACM was actually a consortium of several different manufacturing companies and university professors. It was founded during April 1957 by executives from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Fuji Heavy Industries, Shinmeiwa Manufacturing, Sumitomo, Nihon Kogata Hikoki, Showa Aircraft, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries with the goal of designing and manufacturing a Japanese civilian turboprop airliner to replace the successful but aging Douglas DC-3.

The resulting aircraft, the YS-11, became the only moderately successful civilian airliner to be produced by Japan during the 20th century and the only airliner designed and produced in Japan for over 50 years until the Mitsubishi Regional Jet performed its maiden flight in 2015. Achieving a production run of 182, the YS-11 was not a commercial success for NAMC; the consortium's ambitions of producing a turbofan-powered successor were unable to be realised. Burdened by debt, the company was disbanded on 23 March 1983.

History

Background

Although Japan had designed and manufactured a number of military aircraft before and during the Second World War, the nation had been forbidden under the Potsdam Declaration from engaging in the production of airplanes, as well as various other products, that could be used to rearm a military. These restrictions, however, has been lightened by the United States during the Korean War, opening up the possibility for a Japanese company to produce a civilian aircraft.

During the mid-to-late 1950s, the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) identified a requirement for a short-haul airliner to replace Douglas DC-3s flying on Japan's domestic routes, and encouraged companies in Japan's aircraft industry to collaborate to develop and produce a domestic airliner to meet this need. Towards this purpose, in May 1957, the ''Commercial Transport Design Research Association'' was established and the availability of government subsidies guaranteed. From the government's viewpoint, the development of such an airliner was viewed as a key initiative towards the post-war revival of the nation's aircraft companies, which came in addition to the serious ambition to become a major international competitor in the global airliner business."The YS‐11 Solves a Problem for Piedmont."
''New York Times'', 31 May 1970. Furthermore, while this requirement had been conceived primarily in a commercial context, there was an early recognition of the value for multiple branches of the Japanese Defense Agency (JDA) to be readily able to adopt the type as well; as a philosophy, this not only extended to the prospective airliner itself, but the various technologies involved in its development and manufacture.

Formation and workshare

In response to this political encouragement, during 1957, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Fuji Heavy Industries (better known as the parent company of automobile manufacturer Subaru), Shin Meiwa, Showa Aircraft Industry Company and Japan Aircraft Industry Company was established for the purpose of developing and manufacturing the envisioned airliner. Two years later, this partnership was formalised as the ''Nihon Aeroplane Manufacturing Company'' (NAMC).Endres 1996, p. 22.Taylor 1966, p. 107. The ownership of NAMC was initially divided between the Japanese government, which held 54% of the shares, while the constituent aircraft manufacturers held an 18% stake and several components/materials suppliers owned 11%; the remaining shares were small stakes belonging to various banks, insurance companies, and stock firms who chose to invest in the programme. However, NAMC was essentially a "paper company", being reliant upon both personnel and infrastructure provided by its constituent manufacturers.Odagiri, Odagiri and Akira 1996, pp. 224-225.

Each party was given responsibility over the design and manufacture of a different section of the plane; these were assigned as follows:

NAMC designed a low-winged twin-turboprop-engined monoplane, capable of seating up to 60 passengers, dubbed the ''YS-11''.Odagiri, Odagiri and Akira 1996, p. 224. Amongst the design team was Jiro Horikoshi, who had previously been the designer of the famed wartime Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter."Jiro Horikoshi, 78, Dies in Tokyo; Designer of Zero Fighter Aircraft."
'New York Times'', 12 January 1982. Retrieved: 8 September 2016. Another prominent engineer on the project was Teruo Tojo, the second son of Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who later became chairman of Mitsubishi Motors

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases