A Piece of History Reclaimed From the Rubble of Time

After a lengthy restoration from a collection of scrap off Taroa island, the Military Aviation Museum announced the first flight of their A6M3 Zero–probably the first Model 32 variant to fly since the factory made them in 1945!

The aircraft has been getting a mountain of attention from those working to build it back from the ground up, taken from a pair of aircraft hulks in the Pacific in 1990. Those two aircraft served as the basis for a full airworthy build, using whatever parts were salvageable from each and making plenty more to pad out the rest. Legend Flyers has been working with serial numbers 3148 and 3145 to get a single plane, but the Zero was never really expected to be a centennial aircraft when left out in the wild…and the Pacific island environs were pretty rough on their remains. Even so, Legend Flyers tapped everyone with a working knowledge of the type, getting help from Brad Pilgrim to give it a final okay before setting flight this year. Thankfully, the test was a success, good news after things were called off last summer. Back then, a taxi test exposed some problems with the prop governor and temperature sensors, so Legend staff fix it up inside. Unfortunately for them, the coastal climate refused to cooperate, giving them “70 days of low overcast” to wait out.

The Zero was put through its paces by the Military Aviation Museum’s Chief Pilot Mike Spalding. His notes are quite positive about the aircraft, a testament to the inherent quality of the vintage Mitsubishi design. "It handled very nicely and light on the controls. With only a couple small tweaks to the control trims and a couple other very minor adjustments, which are to be expected after a first flight, we will be ready for another flight (me and the plane)."

Keegan Chetwynd, CEO of the Military Aviation Museum, commemorated the milestone and thanked everyone who helped along the way. "This first flight represents a major milestone for the museum. The Zero was perhaps the most significant Japanese aircraft type in WWII, and was America’s principal adversary in the air war over the Pacific. Having one represented in our flying collection helps us recognize, and honor those US naval and marine corps aviators who fought for the freedoms we all enjoy today. We still have a long road ahead, with plenty of test flying to do before the airplane is ready to fly home to Virginia Beach for public display, so stay tuned!"

FMI: https://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org/the-zero-flies/