For the Chinese

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 aircraft manufacturer also known as NAMC, see China Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation

China Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation

Hongdu Aviation Industry Corporation is a Chinese aircraft manufacturer and supplier to the Chinese military...

.

The Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (日本航空機製造 Nihon Kōkūki Seizō), or NAMC, was the manufacturer of Japan's

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 only successful civilian airliner

Airliner

An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such aircraft are operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an aircraft intended for carrying multiple passengers in commercial...

, the YS-11

NAMC YS-11

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.-Development and design:In...

.

History

Although Japan had designed and manufactured a number of military aircraft during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Japan was forbidden according to the Potsdam Declaration

Potsdam Declaration

The Potsdam Declaration or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender is a statement calling for the Surrender of Japan in World War II. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S...

 from engaging in the production of airplanes and other products that could be used to rearm a military. These restrictions, however, were lightened by the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 during the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

, opening up the possibility for a Japanese company to produce a civilian aircraft.

Actually a consortium of several different manufacturing companies and university professors, NAMC was founded in April of 1957 by executives from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

, or MHI, is a Japanese company. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi Group.-History:In 1870 Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of Mitsubishi took a lease of Government-owned Nagasaki Shipyard. He named it Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works, and started the shipbuilding business on a full scale...

, Fuji Heavy Industries

Fuji Heavy Industries

, or FHI, is a Japanese transportation conglomerate most known for being the manufacturer of Subaru automobiles. It traces its roots to the Nakajima Aircraft Company, a leading supplier of airplanes to the Japanese government during World War II...

, Shinmeiwa Manufacturing

ShinMaywa

is a Japanese industrial conglomerate descended from the Kawanishi Aircraft Company. Founded as Shin Meiwa Industries in 1949, the company was rebranded as ShinMaywa in 1992...

, Sumitomo

Sumitomo Group

is one of the largest keiretsu, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo.-History:The Sumitomo group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by a former buddhist priest,...

, Japan Aircraft, Showa Aircraft, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries

Kawasaki Heavy Industries

is an international corporation based in Japan. It has headquarters in both Chūō-ku, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo.The company is named after its founder Shōzō Kawasaki and has no connection with the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa....

 with the goal of designing and manufacturing a Japanese civilian turboprop

Turboprop

A turboprop engine is a type of turbine engine which drives an aircraft propeller using a reduction gear.The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...

 airliner to replace the successful but aging Douglas DC-3

Douglas DC-3

The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...

. The resulting aircraft, the YS-11, became the only successful civilian airliner ever to come out of Japan.

By the late 1970s, after producing several variations of the YS-11, NAMC hoped to introduce a jet

Jet aircraft

A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft...

 airliner in order to compete with those being produced in the U.S. by companies such as Boeing

Boeing

The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...

 and McDonnell Douglas

McDonnell Douglas

McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...

. Unfortunately, because of the prohibitive cost of both manufacturing a jet engine

Jet engine

A jet engine is a reaction engine that discharges a fast moving jet to generate thrust by jet propulsion and in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. This broad definition of jet engines includes turbojets, turbofans, rockets, ramjets, pulse jets...

 in-house and also purchasing pre-fabricated engines from companies like Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce plc

Rolls-Royce Group plc is a global power systems company headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines , and also has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors. Through its defence-related activities...

, NAMC was forced to scrap its plans.

Wracked by 36 billion Yen

Japanese yen

The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro and the pound sterling...

 in debt (approximately $151 million based on the exchange rate at the time), NAMC disbanded on March 23, 1983.

The YS-11

At their first meeting in April 1957, the seven companies making up NAMC planned to finalize the design and create a mock-up of the plane -- already dubbed the YS for the Japanese words for 'transport' and 'plan' (輸送設計 Yusō Sekkei) -- by March of 1959. To accelerate the process, each party was given responsibility over a different section of the plane, as follows:

Company	Airplane Section	Percent of Completed Aircraft
Mitsubishi	Fore and middle fuselage Fuselage The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...	54.2%
Kawasaki	Wing Wing A wing is an appendage with a surface that produces lift for flight or propulsion through the atmosphere, or through another gaseous or liquid fluid... s and engine nacelle Nacelle The nacelle is a cover housing that holds engines, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. In some cases—for instance in the typical "Farman" type "pusher" aircraft, or the World War II-era P-38 Lightning—an aircraft's cockpit may also be housed in a nacelle, which essentially fills the... s	25.3%
Fuji	Nose, pressurization system, and tail assembly Empennage The empennage , also known as the tail or tail assembly, of most aircraft gives stability to the aircraft, in a similar way to the feathers on an arrow...	10.3%
Japan Aircraft	Decking, aileron Aileron Ailerons are hinged flight control surfaces attached to the trailing edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The ailerons are used to control the aircraft in roll, which results in a change in heading due to the tilting of the lift vector... s, and flaps Flap (aircraft) Flaps are normally hinged surfaces mounted on the trailing edges of the wings of a fixed-wing aircraft to reduce the speed an aircraft can be safely flown at and to increase the angle of descent for landing without increasing air speed. They shorten takeoff and landing distances as well as...	4.9%
Shinmeiwa	Aft fuselage, wing tips, and dorsal fin	4.7%
Showa	Cockpit Cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. Most modern cockpits are enclosed, except on some small aircraft, and cockpits on large airliners are also physically separated from the cabin...  and forward wing edge	0.5%
Sumitomo	Landing gear Undercarriage The undercarriage or landing gear in aviation, is the structure that supports an aircraft on the ground and allows it to taxi, takeoff and land...	0.1%

The actual engines themselves would be purchased from Rolls-Royce.

NAMC succeeded in achieving its goal, even besting it by 3 months. On December 11, 1958 the initial mock-up was completed at a factory in Yokohama

Yokohama

is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

. On August 30, 1962 the first two YS-11s, numbered 1001 and 1002, launched on their maiden flights and by the time NAMC halted the production line in 1974, they had built and sold a total of 182 aircraft for airlines both in Japan and abroad.