Showa / Nakajima L2D The Shōwa L2D and Nakajima L2D , given the designations : Shōwa Navy Type 0 Transport and Nakajima Navy Type 0 Transport , were license - built versions of the Douglas DC - 3 . The L2D series , numerically , was the most important Japanese transport in World War II . The L2D was given the Allied code name Tabby . Design and development . After successful license production acquired in 1935 of the earlier Douglas DC - 2 , Nakajima Hikoki acquired the license rights for $ 90 , 000 in February 1938 , to build the DC - 3 . Previously , the Great Northern Airways and the Far East Fur Trading Company had purchased 22 DC - 3s from 1937 – 1939 . This total consisted of 13 Cyclone powered DC - 3s and nine Twin Wasp powered DC - 3As , two of which were delivered un - assembled and assigned to a relatively new concern , Shōwa Aircraft . Both Shōwa and Nakajima worked in concert to create a production series . Although the L2D was intended for both civil and military application , the production run was largely reserved for the Japanese military as the Navy Type 0 Transport . The Nakajima prototype , powered by Pratt & Whitney SB3G radial engines , first flew in October 1939 and entered production in 1940 as the L2D1 with parts imported from the U . S . while the two Shōwa examples were being assembled to Japanese production standards to simplify manufacture . Differing in minor details , mainly due to the use of locally - produced Mitsubishi Kinsei 43 radial engines of similar power , the initial series from both companies were very similar to its Douglas antecedent . By 1942 , Nakajima had built , including the prototype , 71 L2D2 Navy Type 0 Transport Model 11s and then embarked on manufacturing combat aircraft of their own design . Shōwa , once their factory and production line was complete , built the next series , a total of 416 aircraft , including 75 cargo versions with the " barn door , " and reinforced floor ( designated L2D2 1 ) . The first Japanese military version was equipped with wide cargo doors , essentially mirroring the U . S . C - 47 , appearing about the same time . Other L2D variants , while normally unarmed , the L2D4 and L2D4 - 1 variants carried one flexible 13 mm Type 2 machine gun in a dorsal turret in the navigator ' s dome and two flexible 7 . 7 mm Type 92 machine guns that could be fired from fuselage hatches , but this armament configuration was not a production standard . Although the Japanese civil versions were nearly identical to their Douglas equivalent , the military variants , while visually similar , were substantially different . The Kinsei 51 / 53 engines had 1 , 325 hp ( 975 kW ) and featured enlarged nacelles and large propeller spinners , while the cockpit bulkhead was moved back 40 inches ( 100 cm ) so all four crew members forward were in one compartment , with three extra windows added behind the cockpit . The most radical changes to the original design came about due to wartime exigencies in shortages of strategic materials , that led to metal components in less critical structural areas being replaced by wood . As many as 20 transports featured wooden rudders , stabilizers , ailerons , fins , elevators and entrance doors . An all - wood variant , the L2D5 , was readied for production near the end of the war . Operational history . The original DC - 3s operated by Dai Nippon Koku KK were impressed into Imperial service during the war , serving alongside the license - built L2Ds . The L2Ds served in the Southern Philippines Kokutai in squadrons ( Butais ) attached to the 1st , 3rd , , 11th , 12th , 13th and 14th Air Fleets ( Koku Kantais ) as well as the Combined Fleet ( Rengo Kantai ) and to the China Area and Southwest Area Fleets . With the large load capacity inherent in all L2D variants , the types were used in all Japanese theaters , as both a passenger and cargo transport , playing an important role in supply of the distant garrisons on the islands of Pacific Ocean and new Guinea . They were also adapted to serve as staff and communications aircraft as well as in the maritime surveillance role . Relatively few of the Shōwa / Nakajima L2Ds survived the war , although at least one captured example was in service with the National Aviation Corporation ( CNAC ) during 1945 , serving along with DC - 3s acquired pre - war . In 1946 , another captured L2D2 was used by the French VVS in military operations in Indochina . Postwar , other L2Ds were located in the Pacific as either crashed or abandoned aircraft , and none exist today .