Zero fighter flies over Japan for 1st time since WWII

Associated Press ^ | Jan. 27, 2016 7:54 AM EST | Miki Toda

[arthurus]

God works in mysterious ways. There is a reason for this guy. Perhaps I will live long enough to understand. Perhaps not.

[equaviator]

“Sank you vely much.”

[arthurus]

wrong thread

[2banana]

The Zero.

Best carrier fighter in 1941

Worst carrier fighter in 1945

[GreyFriar]

Thank you for posting this.

[wagglebee]

Pretty interesting. I had always assumed that all of the Zeros were either destroyed or scrapped after the war. I figured that any used in movies or air shows were reproductions.

[Yo-Yo]

You figured correctly. Most "Zeros" in movies are actually T-6 Texan WWII trainers.

Tora, Tora, Tora "Zero" North American AT-6B Texan N11171.

[chajin]

The restored plane made a brief flight to and from a naval base in southern Japan.

The "naval base" was Kanoya, in Kagoshima prefecture, from where most of the kamikaze flights took off towards the end of WWII. There is a museum there today, which explains why the Zero would be flying from there now.

[Ouderkirk]

The Mitsubishi Zero was an excellent airplane for it’s time. It was a death trap and the same time with almost zero armor to protect the pilot.

[Fai Mao]

“The Zero.

Best carrier fighter in 1941

Worst carrier fighter in 1945”

Maybe the worst by 1943.

[BobinIL]

The Zero, Me109 and Spitfire were in a class of their own until late 1942. The US didn’t have anything that could match them until the introduction of the F4U corsair, Hellcat and P51

[wagglebee]

Thanks. I remember seeing some at air shows when I was a kid and I was pretty sure that they weren't authentic.

[Red Badger]

The Zero. Best carrier fighter in 1941 Worst carrier fighter in 1945

Worst president in history.....................

[Red Badger]

Part of the problem of there not being any left and difficult reproductions, is that almost all were destroyed in the war and the actual plans were written in an obscure Japanese engineering language that few could read. They had to go to old folks homes and find workers that were still alive to get anybody that could understand them......................

[Nailbiter]

I may off a little in this comment=
Zero did not keep up with competition due to intractability of Japanese mindset.
Basically same reason we were able to read their radio traffic.
The Japanese were incapable of believing that they were not the best and smartest on the block,
Due to the culture- lower ranks would never question higher ranks decisions, therefore even though their crypto people knew that codes get broken they could not question or change said codes. We got to read during most of the war.

Zero suffered the same fate- should have been updated to deal with changing conditions but by the time they were losing they were unable to change as pilots were in short supply and their infrastructure was getting hammered.

[Nailbiter]

I must say for its time was an impressive fighter- as were the ME109 and Spitfire.

[Fai Mao]

That is true.

[elcid1970]

The Kanoya kamikaze museum is more like a shrine, like Yasukune. Nine Young Gods & all that.

The Zero which the Japanese wish wasn’t intact was the `Akutan Zero’ that was recovered, made flyable, & studied in flight. What was learned affected the outcome of the Pacific war as much as their defeat at Midway, according to one Imperial admiral.

[AppyPappy]

The Wildcat and the P-40 could hold their own against a Zero. The improved Wildcat(FM2) was effective against Zeros.
Wildcats had a 6:1 kill ratio on Zeros.