OT - Zero Flies over Japan for first time since WWII

[dave sindel]

Saw this article on Yahoo this morning.

http://news.yahoo.com/zero-fighter-flie ... 46682.html

[wdolson]

The article is wrong. It may be the first Zero based in Japan since WW II, but this one beat it to the air over Japan by 20 years:

http://planesoffame.org/index.php?mact=staircraft,cntnt01,default,0&cntnt01what=stplanes&cntnt01alias=A6M5&cntnt01returnid=128

In 1995 or 1996 the Planes of Fame made good on a deal they had with Mitsubishi for helping with the restoration. They crated up their Zero and a Mustang and the two toured Japan for several months before coming back to the US.

Hasegawa had a commemorative release of their 1/32 scale Zero for the event and the kit box included a video tape of the Zero and Mustang being crated up in California to go to Japan. The narration is in Japanese, but there is a lot of discussion by the Americans crating up the planes. I haven't watched the tape in many years, I probably should get it transferred to a digital format before the tape completely goes bad.

Bill

[m10bob]

Thank you for the story. I have always loved seeing old stuff restored.
In my youth I flew in a Ford Trimoter for five bucks.
(Halsey, it was at Bob Shank Airport which was on 38th street between Moeller and Georgetown, here in Indy...)