Aircraft Restored To Airworthy Condition By American Collector

In the 1970s a Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero, Type 0 Model 22 was found mouldering in the bush in Papua New Guinea. Long story short, it was eventually acquired in 2008 by its current owner, American collector Masahide Ishizuka, and restored to airworthy condition.

According to a report in The Japan Times, the plane was shipped back to Japan in September in anticipation of it flying again in that country. It has been reassembled and is being stored at the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kanoya Air Base in Kagoshima Prefecture. It's engine has been tested with the assistance of FAA engineers.

If it is cleared to fly, it would be only the third time a Zero has graced the skies over Japan since the end of the war, but it must first be registered with the Japanese aviation authority, which must then certify its airworthiness. The airplane must also meet current Civil Aviation Bureau of Japan safety regulations, and the pilot must be able to show he has sufficient knowledge and skill to safely control the aircraft. That pilot will be an American, the report says, because no one in Japan has a license that would allow him or her to fly the Zero.

The project is being sponsored by U.S.-based Zero Enterprise Inc. A Tokyo-based spokesman for the organization, Hitoshi Okubo, told the paper that it is hoped that the flight "will make people reflect on the past and think of their future. We wanted to give young people in particular an opportunity to think of the impact of war,”  he said.

The Zero is one of only six known to be in airworthy condition in the world. The other five are in storage or on display in the U.S., according to Zero Enterprise Inc.

(Image courtesy Zero Enterprise Inc.)

FMI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_A6M_Zero