marine air wrote:Nothing absolves them from selling the "Frank."
You can't have it both ways with private ownership - either it's in state hands when the above remark might have some mileage when you speak as a citizen, or it is privately owned, where (as we are regularly reminded on WIX) it's
entirely up to the owners to do as they wish.
It's now a "dead" aircraft in a country quite far from any other warbird activity or enthusiasts. If it had stayed in the U.S. it might have created more interest in Japanese aircraft three decades sooner and we would have had many more types saved.
Interesting suggestion. Obviously that can't be
proven either way; however the fact that the PoF kept (and have been flying for many years) their authentic Zero, and given there is 'the most famous fighter' and 'all the others', nation by nation, I'm highly sceptical that a far less famous type would have been the catalyst for a Japanese aircraft revival - that their Zero failed to create.
Regards,