NAMC YS-11A
The NAMC YS-11 is a turboprop airliner built by a Japanese consortium, the Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation. The program was initiated by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1954: the aircraft was rolled out in 1962, and production ceased in 1974.
To date, the YS-11 is the only successful commercial aircraft made by a Japanese firm, either before or after World War II. 182 were produced in total. Although most of the aircraft was designed and manufactured in Japan, the engines were built by Rolls-Royce. Also, electrical appliances, gauges, machinery and cockpit hardware were supplied either from Japanese Industries or foreign overseas providers during the YS-11’s time of production.
The consortium of companies that made up NAMC included Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Fuji Heavy Industries (now better known as the parent company of automobile manufacturer Subaru), both major producers of fighter planes during World War II. The twin-engined YS-11 delivered similar operational performance to the four-engined Vickers Viscount, and had 50% more capacity than the similarly-configured Fokker F.27.
The NAMC YS-11 was the first original Japanese designed aircraft following the end of World War II. Operations of the type began in 1965 with various improvements in payload, etc. being put into place.
By 1971, over 160 YS-11 aircraft had been delivered to customers including Toa Airways, which was the first airline to use the YS-11 in 1965. Others are All Nippon, Austral/ALA, China Airlines, Cruzeiro, Filipinas Orient, Korean, LANSA, Olumpic, Piedmont, Southwest, Transair, VASP, Air Afrique, Merpati Nusantara and Mey-Air.
On September 30, 2006, Japan Air Commuter flight 3806 marked the final flight for a YS-11 in Japan’s commercial aviation industry. In 2007, the YS-11 was added to the Mechanical Engineering Heritage of Japan No. 13.
| SPECIFICATIONS | |
| Span: | 105 ft 0 in (32.0 m) |
| Length: | 86 ft 3 in (26.3 m) |
| Height: | 29 ft 6 in (8.99 m) |
| Wing area: | 1,020.4 ft² (94.83 m²) |
| Empty weight: | 14,600 kg (32,187 lb) |
| Payload: | 11,904 lb (5,400 kg) |
| Crew: | Two (2) |
| Capacity: | 52 – 64 |
| Armament: | None |
| Engines: | 2× Rolls-Royce Dart Mk.542-10K turboprop engines, 3,060 shp (2,280 kW) each |
| Max Takeoff Weight: | 51,808 lb (23,500 kg) |
| Cost: | $ 2,400,000 |
| Tail Number: | P4-KFD-2035 |
| Years in Service: | 1965 – 2006 |
| PERFORMANCE | |
| Cruising Speed: | 282 mph (245 knots, 454 km/h) |
| Range: | 1,367 mi (1,188 NM, 2,200 km) |
| Service ceiling: | 22,900 ft. (6,982 m) |
| Rate of climb: | 1,220 ft/min (6.2 m/s) |