Warbird Information Exchange

He did until a few years ago. Maloney sold that to Paul Allen. I believe it is now up in Washington. I believe this happened right after Maloney sold the 262 to him.

Does anyone know thedetails about the three Zeroes that were restored in Russia with P&W 1830's? Are they new builds or what? Any chance more could be built?

As for the CAF's A6M2 Zero - the truth about the wing spars was not known until the upper wing was partially de-skinned at Camarillo after I flew it there for an annual inspection from Mohave in September 1997.

I'm not sure what year you saw the A6M2 flying in the Tora act but when I flew it I was usually put as "top cover" against a P-40 or other available US fighter as our speeds were more compatible. Once, perhaps in 1994, I was included in the Tora Zero formation flight into the act at Houston and got the new-guy induction of a beer shower on the ramp as part of the debrief. A great bunch of guys to fly with and a great leader in Charles.

Frankly, I never pulled many Gs in the A6M2, did gentle loops and rolls and ACM requiring nothing more than 2-3 Gs to out turn most others, but I would not have flown the aircraft as long as I did if I knew what was later learned about the wing spars. The worst of the problems could not be seen by normal inspection from the inspection panels on the bottom of the wing, as was done by a number of very good folks over the years. We live and learn, if we live. My 2 cents. Fly safe.

Randy

Thanks for your insight, Randy. The definitive info about the spar might not have been known until it went to Ca. but I suspect that somebody knew something wasn't quite right. I heard more than one person comment about flying the Zero easy because of a suspect spar repair. I never saw anyone at Houston fly anything but easy topcover, and I saw it at several shows over the years. Occasionally we saw it make a few passes with the replicas but then it went on top and played chase with Ollie or Howard in the Wildcat.

_________________
"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

What kind of details are you looking for? As for what they are considered, that is a matter of semantics. I talked to Bruce Lockwood in the early 90's, I think about '92, just after the huge Japanese coup landed at Santa Monica. At that time, the first Zero fuselage was just in the jig and had some formers and stringers attached, prior to the forming of the skins. I asked him how much of the original Zero's were being used in the rebuild. He said that most of the parts were newly manufactured from patterns off of the original planes. He estimated that only about 10% of the original parts were going to be used in the final rebuild. This was before the Zero's were shipped off to Russia to be finished. So, I guess it all depends on what your definition of replica, rebuild, or restored is. As far as whether anymore can be built, the answer is definitely yes! Bruce told me that they obtained a complete set of Zero blueprints to make most of the parts on it. These blueprints came from an elderly gentleman from Japan who saved them and hid them away from the Allies. At the end of the war, orders were given from the Japanese high command to destroy the Zero blueprints. Fortunately, someone didn't follow orders very well. Take it for what it's worth.

For more info, look at some Air Classics from the early 90's. I remember at least 2 articles that had some detailed info on the Zero rebuilds.

As an aside, the Tony that was part of the same group recovered from Babo was sent to Russia as well to be replicated in the same manner as the Zeros. According to Steve Hinton, the Tony has "disappeared", never to be heard from again. I think there is a LOT more to this story than has been made public. It sounds like the Tony might have been "stolen" or part of some kind of shady business deal. Anybody have any more info on this?