LAST JAPANESE FIGHTER RECOVERED IN HAWAII

AOPA ePilot ^ | 18 August 2006

[IonImplantGuru]

The first pieces of the last remaining Japanese Zero fighter to be shot down over Hawaii on December 7, 1941, have reached the new Pacific Aviation Museum, now in its final fund-raising campaign and set to open December 7, 2006.

This aircraft had just finished strafing Bellows Field and Kaneohe Naval Air Station when ground fire punctured its belly fuel tank, preventing it from returning to the aircraft carrier Hiryu and forcing it to land on what Japanese planners thought was an abandoned island, Niihau.

However, the island's owners, the Robinson family, had heeded the warnings of a possible Japanese attack made by Gen. Billy Mitchell in 1924 and had plowed huge furrows in every conceivable landing site. Those furrows were still present and forced the Zero pilot to crash and be taken prisoner.

The remaining pieces of the Zero and the tractor that plowed the furrows will be on display at the museum on Ford Island, the military airfield where bullet holes from the attack still remain.

[IonImplantGuru]

The locals call the crash landing, capture of the Japanese pilot, subsequent escape, eventual recapture and execution the "Battle of Niihau."

[sionnsar]

the warnings of a possible Japanese attack made by Gen. Billy Mitchell in 1924

!!!!

[IonImplantGuru]

For Aeronauts ping list.

[Loud Mime]

the warnings of a possible Japanese attack made by Gen. Billy Mitchell in 1924 ---


The New York Times may have printed them.....

[Springman]

Ping.

[ichabod1]

I thought this meant the last of the Japanese soldiers hiding in the jungle was found after all these years.

[Michael.SF.]

yep. That was why they court martialed him, he was way ahead of his time.

[ExSES]

the warnings of a possible Japanese attack made by Gen. Billy Mitchell in 1924

Court-marshalled for being "innovative" in demonstrating what airpower could do to surface ships!!!

[SamAdams76]

What took them so long?

[Samwise]

Foxhole Ping

[Vision]

However, the island's owners, the Robinson family, had heeded the warnings of a possible Japanese attack made by Gen. Billy Mitchell in 1924 and had plowed huge furrows in every conceivable landing site. Those furrows were still present and forced the Zero pilot to crash and be taken prisoner.

The Robinson's are true American heroes.

[tet68]

Yes, the Navy was terrified by his demonstration, if thinking like that had caught on, appropriations for battleships and ships of the line would have disappeared.

[SkyPilot]

Wow. Any pictures of this story anywhere?

[Soaring Feather]

Thanks for the ping.

[Paleo Conservative]

Yes, the Navy was terrified by his demonstration, if thinking like that had caught on, appropriations for battleships and ships of the line would have disappeared.

It would have avoided all the wasteful spending on Battleships in the 1930's and '40s. We could have spent more on aircraft carriers and submarines and testing weapons. Imagine how many allied planes wouldn't have been lost if we had already developed aerial refueling.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Nah - the Robinson's only had the fields plowed. Read this story and you'll see the heros.

http://www.the-catbird-seat.net/PearlHarbor.htm

[tubebender]

Great War Story...

[MissEdie]

Prior Prevention Prevents Poor Performance- sounds like these people were well prepared!!!!

[Centurion2000]

I always wondered why the B-25 was called the Mitchell ... now I know thanks to this. Excellent.

[MissEdie]

Please excuse my ignorance, exactly what was Gen. Mitchell court-martialed for?