The two Fuji LM-1s that sat on the warbird ramp at Sun ‘n Fun were objects of curiosity to most of the warbird pilots, as they look somewhat like a cross between a T-34 and a Navion. You can see the similarities between the T-34s and these two Fuji LM-1s. While not a T-34, the LM-1 is certainly a part of the T-34 heritage. According to Wikipedia, “Fuji Heavy Industries built 176 Beech T-34 Mentor two-seat training aircraft under license in the early 1950s. Fuji then redesigned the basic Mentor as four-seat aircraft for the Japan Ground Self Defense Force. It was designed as a multi-role vehicle, used for communications, liaison, personnel, and cargo transport, and assigned the designation LM-1. The design boasted a new lengthened center fuselage added to the Mentor’s wing, undercarriage, and tail assembly. 27 LM-1s were produced during 1955 to 1956.”
One of the challenges in preparing this article is the lack of information concerning the operational history of the LM series. Even the current airplane owners have more questions than answers. But here is what we do know. American military rule in Japan had ended by April 1952, and several of Japan’s aircraft manufacturers had been reestablished. Among these was Fuji Heavy Industries, which was formed in 1953 as the successor to Nakajima Aircraft Company. Nakajima had been in existence since 1914 and had built some of Japan’s best military aircraft.
In addition to the lifting of military rule, the American military decided to rebuild Japan’s defenses and established the National Safety Force (Hoantai) and the Japanese Maritime Guard (Kaijo-Keibitai). During 1953, the Japanese Safety Force decided to acquire a new trainer and selected the T-34. A license agreement was concluded with Beechcraft in November 1953, enabling Fuji to continue the Nakajima tradition by building the T-34 in Japan. Altogether, Fuji built 176 T-34s. The T-34 was the first aircraft for the Hoantai, and deliveries of the first 20 T-34As (B-45) began during March 1954.
To meet a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) requirement for a liaison aircraft, Japanese engineers decided to modify the basic Mentor airframe. The new aircraft, known as the LM-1 (LM stands for Liaison Mentor) Nikko, was a four-passenger variant of the basic T-34A. The aircraft was modified with a new center fuselage section with side-by-side seating for four passengers. The LM-1 made its first flight on June 7, 1955. 27 LM-1s were built (serials 21001 to 21027) between 1956 and 1957 for the JGSDF.
The LM-2 was a modification of the LM-1 with a more powerful engine. Three LM-2s were built from LM-1 airframes, two during 1963, and another during 1966 (serials 2151 to 2153). The LM-2 differed from the LM-1 in the installation of a Lycoming 340-hp IGSO-480-B1A6 engine, which required a new cowling with an extra cooling air scoop on the port side and longer exhaust pipes. Both the LM-1 and LM-2 had the main cabin door on the starboard side of the fuselage.
The JGSDF lost four LM-1s, three of which were during the course of normal operations. To this day, one LM-1 loss remains shrouded in mystery. The story goes that an aircraft was stolen by a young JGSDF ground crewman who was undergoing training to be a pilot at the Utsunomiya School. There is one additional LM-1 unaccounted for from its service in Japan.
All LM-series aircraft were built with funding from the U.S. Military Assistance Program, which meant that when they were phased out of Japanese service, they were required to be made available for return to U.S. control. This enabled the Valiant Air Command, a private warbird flying museum in Titusville, Florida, to acquire nine LMs during 1983. Of the 27 built, records show that five were lost while in service in Japan. The remaining 22 were retired in the 1975 to 1976 timeframe which, he notes, would have been the 20-year mark for the aircraft. Of the 22 remaining, the Valiant Air Command imported nine aircraft on Nov. 12, 1982. Peter Palo imported another 11 airframes for Headquarters Squadron War Planes (HSWP) Connecticut. Of those, 10 were bought by Clu Colvin. This accounts for 25 of the 27 built. There is no information readily available for the remaining two.
There had not been a lot written about the LM-1, so for more background, I spoke with the pilots of both Fujis appearing at Sun ‘n Fun 2026. Richard Woodward of Tallahassee, Florida, owns N2109Z, serial number 21017 (LM-20). He was born in South America, and, as a youngster, he made numerous trips between South America and the U.S. with his family. Later, his family was transferred to India and, later, Pakistan, so he was pretty much flying all the time as a passenger. Woodward says, “I enjoyed flying as a youngster. As a kid, I built a lot of models of WW-II aircraft, and then I got into the Civil Air Patrol when I was 13 and I started flight training in 1969 at age 16. Back in 1970, the CAP had a program where they would award two cadets per state an opportunity to go to Stillwater, Oklahoma, and participate in their private pilot course. The stipulation was that you had to have soloed beforehand, and, of course, you had to be one of the two chosen. I went through a series of interviews, and I was extremely fortunate to be one of the two from North Carolina to be chosen.”
Woodward went out to Oklahoma on July 5, 1970, after having soloed on July 2. He continues, “I was flying a tricycle-gear Aeronca Trichamp. As an interesting side note, I did not realize at the time that my father-in-law had been a pilot. We came across his logbooks, and it turns out he had flown the exact same Trichamp that I had soloed in. Anyway, I flew for a while, and then I went to college, where I flew a little bit. Then I got married and drifted away from flying.”
Woodward’s flying and aircraft ownership went through several stops and starts over the next 50 years. He owned and then sold a number of aircraft, including a Piper Arrow PA-28R-200, T-28B, Cessna O-1A Birddog (L-19), and a PA-24 Comanche. He sold the Comanche in 2004 and went planeless for the next 17 years. He says, “Finally, in 2021, I wanted another warbird, but I wanted one with four seats because I wanted a little more utility out of it than a two-seater would offer. There are not a lot of single-engine, four-seat warbirds, so my choices were extremely limited. I was looking for something that was actually in the military, not just painted up like one. One of the first ones I looked at was a Yak-18T. I liked it but, long story short, the owner decided not to sell it. In retrospect, it might have been a challenge to maintain. So, I was back to looking for something like a Navion. Finally, I ran across this Fuji for sale in Colorado. After some back-and-forth, I decided to go ahead and buy the airplane.” This was one of the LM-1s imported by the Valiant Air Command.
Woodward gave the Fuji to a maintenance facility in Colorado for a prebuy, and they produced a long list of stuff. Most of the items were minor, but he has also had quite a bit of significant work done. He explained, “I also knew that the engine was near the end of its life and had a lot of hours on it. I had RAM Aircraft overhaul everything firewall forward. The original O-470 engine had long been replaced with an IO-520 under a Form 337, and RAM ended up using nothing but the crankshaft out of the old engine. I have a new PMA crankcase and Millennium nickel-infused cylinders, because I am here on the coast with a lot of salt air and I wanted all the protection I could get. I had GAMI injectors installed by RAM, and we overhauled basically everything that was attached to the engine. I also sent the prop out to be overhauled.”
He continues, “We also overhauled all three landing gear assemblies and discovered a problem with the electric gear motor. It’s a 28-volt system and the gear motor is supposed to bring the gear up in 7 seconds or less, but it was taking 14 seconds. I contacted some folks at the Bonanza Society and they said, ‘You need a gear motor and please do it now because they’re not making them anymore and we can only rebuild them if they’re not burned out.’ I went ahead and replaced the gear motor, and, in the process, we found some chipped teeth in the main gear transmission. We replaced that and as he was working on the gear, he noticed that the date tags on the fuel bladders were 1976. We also found original Japanese hoses throughout the airplane, also dating back to 1976, so we replaced all the hoses, fuel lines, fuel bladders, and all the hoses on the brake assemblies.”
Woodward says that the Fuji does not have any bad habits at all, just a few subtleties. He notes, “It is docile. You can use the ailerons alone for a 30° turn, and it will hold the ball right in the middle without even touching the rudder pedals. About the only flight characteristic that I had to really get used to was that it was very pitch sensitive. If you breathe on the pitch control, it will start moving in that direction, so you must be very subtle in trimming out your pitch. It will tend to fall off on the left wing a little bit in a power-off stall, but nothing dramatic. About the only other thing that is a little different is that it does not float. If I do a power-off landing, I can certainly count on making firm contact with the runway! Other than that, it does not really have any bad characteristics.”
“Fuji Phil” McLanahan, 61, has owned the other Fuji LM-1, N8020K, serial number 21011 (LM-14), for nearly 20 years. He joined the United States Navy to become an aircraft mechanic right after high school. While serving, he worked on the F-14, EA-6B Prowler, and the Secretary of the Navy’s Gulfstream. McLanahan retired as a chief after 24 years with the Navy. He says, “The whole time I was in the Navy, I was at the little local airport, turning wrenches and getting my A&P license. Once I got my A&P license, I started bartering aircraft maintenance for flight time so I could fly. I got my private pilot’s license back in 1999. I now have about 2,800 flight hours, all recreation, all fun flying. I have had commercial training and instrument training, but I never really got paid compensation to fly. I do it out of love.”
Once he retired from the Navy, McLanahan continued to work for the Navy, but as a civilian contractor. For another five years, he continued to serve as the mechanic on the SECNAV’s Gulfstream. Then, as he describes, “I decided to do life backwards, and from 2013 to 2017, I went to Liberty University and earned a 4-year aeronautical degree.” McLanahan tried airport management for a while, but eventually returned to aircraft maintenance, this time for the FBI as a mechanic. He maintained both the Director’s airplane as well as other general aviation aircraft operated by the Bureau from 2019 until 2025. Today, he is an executive officer for the Commemorative Air Force, Capital Wing, as well as the Wing’s primary mechanic.
McLanahan owned several airplanes before he became “Fuji Phil.” He started out with a Cessna 150, fixed it up and sold it, replacing it with a 172, which he also fixed up and sold. He then owned a Grumman AA-5 Traveler, which he had for quite several years. In 2007, he came across the Fuji in Georgetown, Delaware. Serial number LM-14 is shown as entering the U.S. in March 1978, one of the 11 imported by HSWP. Harvey Patrick had purchased it back in the ’90s from Peter Palo. He spent 10 years or so trying to restore it but never completed the project. McLanahan bought the project in 2007 and restored it to flying condition.
How did McLanahan come to own the LM-1? He explains, “I used to fly T-34s in the military flying clubs. I never flew them as a naval flight officer, but I sure loved flying them. I was up in Georgetown, Delaware, back in 2007 and saw what I thought was a T-34 sitting in the high grass, looking abandoned. I walked over to take a closer look and was even more puzzled. At that time, I had never even heard of an LM-1. I did some research to find out what it was and contacted the owner, Harvey Patrick, owner of PATS Aircraft Systems (now ALOFT AeroArchitects). Patrick was then 80 years old and confessed that he would never get around to restoring it. He explained that he’d purchased the Fuji back when it was imported to the U.S. back in the ’80s or ’90s. His goal was to restore it, but somewhere along the line, he just gave up on it. I told him I would like to help get it airworthy. He agreed, so I spent a few months of weekends in 2007 working on the airplane. A lot of the work had already been done, so I was just verifying and going over everything.”
When Phil finally took the plane on its first test flight, he flew it for 45 minutes over the top of Georgetown Airport and reports that everything was a dream. He continues, “I landed and Harvey Patrick had tears in his eyes and said, ‘I thought I would never see it fly again. I cannot fly anymore. Would you like to buy it?’ I responded, ‘Well, sir, I am currently enlisted active duty in the Navy. I do not know what you want for it, but I’m sure I can’t afford it.’ He answered, ‘I will make it affordable for you.’ At that time, I was partners with Bob Cooper in a Piper Colt, and Harvey Patrick said he learned how to fly in a Piper Colt, and asked, ‘Would you swap title for title?’ It sounds like a fairly good deal, and Bob agreed immediately, and so basically, we swapped the Colt for his Fuji. That was back in 2007. We showed at Oshkosh in 2008 for the first time, and hardly anybody had ever seen a Fuji in 2008. It has been there almost every year since and it has been at Sun ‘n Fun almost every year since.” Fuji Phil is an A&P as well as an IA, so since the LM-1 is classified as Experimental Exhibition, he does most of the wrench-turning himself. He notes that there is no specific manual for the LM-1, but he has T-34 and Beech Bonanza maintenance experience and manuals. He says that below the cabin, most components can be replaced with either T-34 or Bonanza parts. Parts for the Continental O-470, of course, are readily available, so routine maintenance is not generally a problem. Nearly 20 years after he bought his LM-1, Fuji Phil McLanahan still loves flying his plane to numerous airshows, where it continues to be a crowd-pleaser. After the photo flight with both Fujis, he told me that, as far as he knows, this was the first time a pair of Fujis had been photographed in some 30 years. He also expects a third Fuji to show up at Oshkosh, so who knows? Maybe that will present yet another unique photo opportunity. And, with several other Fuji projects underway, that number might continue to grow.
According to Woodward, as of this writing, there are:
- Eight on the FAA register
- Five that I can confirm flying
- Two that I believe are still flying
- One with no contact with the registered owner, but might be one otherwise unaccounted for
- Three that I can confirm in restoration
- In addition, Clu Colvin says he has restored two Fujis to airworthy condition and is now working on a third.
If anyone can provide further information on the Fujis, this writer would like to hear from you.
I find several curiosities when going through the FAA registry looking for this type of aircraft.
Looking at the active registry, I get six hits on a search for “*Fuji*” on the aircraft type, and “*LM*” in the model designation.
N8020K is the ONLY one listed as a “Fuji LM-1”. N2109Z is listed as a “Fuji LM I” (with the letter “i” instead of “1”), along with three others. There’s another listed as a “Fuji LM II” (double-i).
Another strange bit is the entry for the number of seats. The one shown in the N8020K is shown as a five-seat aircraft. The rest, including N2109Z, are listed as two-seaters. I suspect this is an artifact of their T-34 heritage.
Of the six, three (including both the listed N-Numbers) are listed as having Continental IO-470 engines. One is registered with an IO-550B, and the other two don’t have an engine listed.
Gets even more fun if one looks at the list of deregistered aircraft. “LM-1” was used as a designation for a type of homebuilt aircraft without looking for “Fuji”, which means one has to weed out aircraft based on the manufacturer names or the engine model (many have Rotaxes).
Three are obvious hits: Manufacturer “Fuji/Headquarters Squad”, serial numbers LM14 (N30174), 001 (N6334Z), and 003 (N6335W). Again, all are listed as having two seats.
Hi Ron,
Thanks for writing, and I hope you enjoyed the article. One of my challenges in researching this article was trying to make sense of numerous inconsistencies and general lack of information, even amongst the LM-1 owners. Mclanahan and Woodward would both love to hear from anyone who can help them fill in a lot of blanks in their quest to compile a more accurate history of these rare birds.
Being an Aero Club T-34 guy myself many years ago, these look so very attractive. Glad there are some around and flying. The ones with the original T-34 225 hp engine, is that enough performance to make it worthwhile? Back in my youthful USAF days, flying the T-34 with its augmenter tube exhaust, I had a Walter Mitty P-51 feeling.
Me, too. I flew the T-34A at Edwards AFB for 27 years 1972-1999. I checked out in the T-34A at Buckley ANGB in Denver earlier in 1972.
Larry S –
I too flew N10560, the Edwards Aero Club T-34. Last flight was 2004. They grounded the airplane because the ADs were too expensive for the club’s budget. Supposedly they gave it to the Flight Test Museum. Very unique experience flying around the legendary skies of Edwards.
Ron … your name sounds familiar. What did you do. I was NCOIC of the Flight Test Instrumentation branch at the end of my 15.5 years on duty at EAFB retiring in 1988.
What year did they ground 10560? Did you know that at one time the club had TWO T-34A’s back in the 70’s? We took one on from Hanscom AFB and I totally rewired the airplane working on it for nearly 6 months as an apprentice A&P working at night at the club. Shortly after getting it flying, an SR-71 driver came out one night to fly it. He fueled it but did not properly latch the R cap down so it siphoned that fuel out in flight. When he switched to the R tank, the engine stopped and he wasn’t smart enough to go back to what was working (error 2). He illegally flew it out of the local area to George AFB (error 3). When he realized he was going to crash at night, he puts the landing gear down (error 4). Fortunately for him, THAT error likely saved him because the airplane barely moved 50′ right in the middle of a Joshua tree forest. We cajoled the Army flight test people (then at EAFB) to make an exercise out of rescuing the airplane with a CH-47. We flew there in a UH-1, got it ready whereupon the Chinook showed up and hauled it off back to EAFB. We didn’t have the $$ to repair the R wing so we parked it on the lee side of the (then) Aero Club hangar T-181 at south base (later a part of the B-2). Someplace, I have a pic of N63490 hanging under a Chinook as we flew in formation in a UH-1 😒
That airplane sat there for several years and was actually shown in a snippet in the movie, “The RIght Stuff” if you knew what you were looking at. We traded it off for parts for the C-182 (which I bought for the club for $44K c. 1982) and other considerations. It went on to fly again after being rehabbed by Earl Parks of T-34 fame. BTW: We nick named the SR-71 dunce, “Terrible Tommy.” I”ll skip his last name. And, yes, I heard the airplane went to the flight test museum and was to be given to some school in the AV.
Finally, I personally saved the aero club from extinction in the mid-80’s when the B-2 was taking over all of south base. The small hangar that became the club was a farce built on the remnants of a WWII concrete slab but was all we could muster. Working with the deputy base commander, I fought like hell to keep the club operating vs. closing it down. I hear it’s now located on main base at base flight ops ??
Flying and maintaining those two T-34A’s was one of the highlights of my 27 years living in the AV both on base and in Palmdale.
Larry,
Happy to compare notes about Edwards but we should probably take this off the comments page. Not sure how to pass along an e-mail or phone number or if they even allow it. Somebody probably monitors this so perhaps they can help.
This was a great read. I had started looking into the LM-1’s over the last year and the lack of information out there is quite surprising. They are a really interesting airplane and I would like to see more information come out about them.
Fantastic and informative! Certainly a unique plane!