Nakajima Ki-34

The Nakajima Ki-34 was a Japanese twin-engine light transport that began as a civil airliner and ended as a military workhorse. Nakajima Aircraft Company, which already held licence-production rights for the Douglas DC-2, started the design in 1935 to serve airline routes too thin to justify the larger aircraft. The prototype, designated AT-2, first flew on 12 September 1936. It was a low-wing monoplane of largely all-metal construction with retractable main landing gear, powered by two 580-horsepower Nakajima Kotobuki radial engines. Thirty-two AT-2s were built for civil operators before the design was adapted for military service following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Imperial Japanese Army took it as the Army Type 97 Transport, the Ki-34, with two 710-horsepower Kotobuki 41 radial engines. It flew liaison, communications, paratrooper training and special-forces missions, and some aircraft served the Imperial Japanese Navy as the L1N1. The Allies gave the type the reporting name Thora. In all, 351 aircraft of the family were built.