Fuji LM-1 Nikko

The Fuji LM-1 Nikko was a Japanese four-seat light communications aircraft of the 1950s. Fuji Heavy Industries had built 176 Beech T-34 Mentor trainers under licence in the early 1950s and then redesigned the Mentor as a communications aircraft by adding a lengthened centre fuselage to the Mentor wing, undercarriage and tail. Twenty-seven LM-1s with a 225 hp Continental engine were produced in 1955 and 1956 for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, where they were used for communications and general duties, and after withdrawal several were sold on the US civil market and are flown as warbirds. The higher-powered LM-2 with a 340 hp Lycoming engine followed, with two built.