Zero fighter flies over Japan for 1st time since WWII

http://news.yahoo.com/zero-fighter-flies-over-japan-1st-time-since-064646682.html



KANOYA, Japan (AP) — One of Mitsubishi's legendary Zero fighter planes took to the skies over Japan on Wednesday for the first time since World War II.

The restored plane made a brief flight to and from a naval base in southern Japan. Decorated former U.S. Air Force pilot Skip Holm flew the aircraft.

Zero fighters were considered one of the most capable fighter planes in World War II, rivaling the British Spitfire. Their long range allowed them to play a prominent role in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Only a few are still in operating condition.

This particular plane was found decaying in Papua New Guinea in the 1970s. It was owned by an American until Japanese businessman Masahiro Ishizuka purchased it and brought it to Japan last September.

"I wanted for the people of Japan and especially young people to know about this Zero airplane, as well as those who are old who remember the past," Ishizuka said. "Each of them should have different thoughts and perspectives on this, but I just want people to know how Japan has developed its technology."

Japanese see the aircraft both as a symbol of their country's technological advance and a reminder of the harrowing history of the war. In the last phase of the fighting, they were used for "kamikaze" attacks.

Kamikaze pilots took off from the same airfield as Wednesday's flight, Kanoya Naval Air Base on the island of Kyushu.

Under its previous American owner, the plane made an appearance in the Hollywood movie "Pearl Harbor" and at various events in the United States.

@Nihonjin1051 @Vauban @Desert Fox and all other enthusiasts (please tag others!)

Mitsubishi A6M Allied codename (precursor to NATO codename)"Zeke". The allies gave male names to fighter and girly names to bombers and other aircraft like Betty, Judy, Jill etc

From what I remember it was called Zero because it it came it to service in year 2900 (1940??) according to the Japanese calendar and the Japanese used to give the last two digits of the year to the fighter

It was a very good fighter with extremely good maneuverability and range only downside was it's lack of speed, armor and self sealing fuel tanks.

Beautiful plane.

Masahide Ishizuka sits in the cockpit of his World War II-era Zero fighter plane at the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Kanoya Air Base in Kagoshima

---

Here's to our boys who flew off to the sunset, and never came home...always alive in our hearts and minds...!










------

This threads reminds me of the Japanese Naval Air Ace , Tanimizu Takeo, who scored over 90 kills in the Pacific. The bold sacrifice of many of our young boys who took up the call to fight and die for the Nation against the American Juggernaut during the Great Pacific War.


Tanimizu-San captured with a docile smile

FairAndUnbiased said:

Glorifying this plane is like glorifying Hitler's Panzer divisions.

Click to expand...

Yet it is not Japanese that love to 'collect' these warplanes, or rebuild it, but mostly Americans of Western folks !!!




Mind you that's an American flying that plane, carrying the rising sun elbem!
not japanese guy.


That man does not look Japanese at all, lol.

These owners of the Zero are not Japanese, btw, all of them Americans!!!

Nihonjin1051 said:

Masahide Ishizuka sits in the cockpit of his World War II-era Zero fighter plane at the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Kanoya Air Base in Kagoshima

---

Here's to our boys who flew off to the sunset, and never came home...always alive in our hearts and minds...!

------

This threads reminds me of the Japanese Naval Air Ace , Tanimizu Takeo, who scored over 90 kills in the Pacific. The bold sacrifice of many of our young boys who took up the call to fight and die for the Nation against the American Juggernaut during the Great Pacific War.


Tanimizu-San captured with a docile smile

View attachment 290265

Click to expand...

I once saw a documentary about kamikaze where it states many of those young pilots were forced to go on the suicide missions, many of them were crying when boarded on the plane and calling their mother name. Even we were enemy at that time, i found it sad because this was so much waste on those young people's life. I think maybe this is the Japanese culture that to keep on fighting to the end. But near the end of WW2 Japan was doomed to fail and suicide mission like this only create more hate and bigger retaliation from the American side, which in return cause bigger suffering to the Japanese people.

bbccdd1470 said:

I once saw a documentary about kamikaze where it states many of those young pilots were forced to go on the suicide missions, many of them were crying when boarded on the plane and calling their mother name. Even we were enemy at that time, i found it sad because this was so much waste on those young people's life. I think maybe this is the Japanese culture that to keep on fighting to the end. But near the end of WW2 Japan was doomed to fail and suicide mission like this only create more hate and bigger retaliation from the American side, which in return cause bigger suffering to the Japanese people.

Click to expand...

Interesting you said that. Yes, there is a museum in Japan that has letters written by kamikaze pilots, to their loved ones. even poems they wrote the night before they flew off. the theme was very intersting. it was always writing about mother, missing their mother, embracing mother again.

i guess we should remember that despite whether enemy or foe, soldiers were some mother's son.

yes, many of the kamikazes were young boys. no older than 20. as young as 16, 17....


from the look of their faces, probably in their late teens. 18, 19, no more than 22.

it won't be long until fat man and little boys come to Japan too.

looks like the nose gear of those old style propeller fighters is very high.
Pilots can not see the road . Why not make it adjustable ?

That was the technology prowess of Japan during WWII. Back then, China couldn't even make car's engine, let alone plane engine.

bbccdd1470 said:

many of them were crying when boarded on the plane and calling their mother name.

Click to expand...

Of course, brother. What man would not , in the most trying of times, not call out to their Mother? Mother --- it is the closest we can get to God. To young soldiers , at the time, the last images they probably have had in their minds...was thoughts of their Mom. "Okaasan"... "Mommy!"

Nihonjin1051 said:

Of course, brother. What man would not , in the most trying of times, not call out to their Mother? Mother --- it is the closest we can get to God. To young soldiers , at the time, the last images they probably have had in their minds...was thoughts of their Mom. "Okaasan"... "Mommy!"

Click to expand...

I suspect they were FUI (Flying Under Influence).