Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero - Living Warbirds: Steel Warriors

[roosterinboro]

Anybody know if they had to do a full restore? My understanding is the alloy in the original Zero's, while very light weight, degraded in strength pretty quickly...

[cobrachoppergirl]

Not really interesting unless they are chasing each other in a real dogfight

[collen1974]

yes that's true- starting in mid to late 1943.

[collen1974]

the color scheme is all wrong on the aircraft. it should be a grey body with a black cowling and a silver prop. and to fatturtle144, GET OVER YOUR STUPID RACIST ATTITUDE!!!! it was over seventy years ago you moron

[AHCheech]

@collen1974 If it were an A6M2 then I'd agree with you but from the 3 through to the 6 they used green with a grey underside and black cowling for the most part.

[FatTurtle144]

FUCK THE JAPS THEY SHOT MY GRANPA DOWN :(

[TheCatFan21]

It's great to see two of my favorite warbirds flying together, the Zeke and the P-40.

[SgtGrant23]

to bad that there was an order to the Japanese aircraft at the end of ww2, but the ones that are still around not the ones that still fly are awesome the ones that are at the museum in Pensacola or at the national air and space museum the static Japanese planes are cool

[gcvander81]

The Zero owned by Planes of Fame is the only one flying with its original Sakai engine. If CAF did get an original engine for theirs, that'd be sweet to see another one flying.

[SvenTviking]

P40s and the rest mixed it with Zeros once they knew how to. Keep the combat speed up. The Zero was ment to dogfight at about 150 mph, and could win any tight, therefore slow dogfight. As it went faster, so the controls got heavier. Once the allies learnt this, the Zero bacame easier meat.

[Oldsmobile442Estella]

1- not steel, not wood, but "duralumin" an aluminum alloy light in weight but very strong

2- not an a6m3 - a6m3 had sakae 21 engines with collector ring, and a CLIPPED WINGTIP - sets it apart from all the rest. this is an A6M2 type 2-1 with the folding tips

3 - not an a6m5 as these late variants sported exhaust stacks instead of rings; the 5-2 sporting 5 guns, and common to all a6m5 variants was the long barrel 20mm...

please do correct me if i do mix something up - IF i did.

[albertsauce]

@Oldsmobile442Estella this is the a6m3. it has folding wingtips.

I found a demo video here somewhere.

[BROOKS39]

The Zero was a far more superior aircraft to the Kittyhawk during the War. I think the RAAF shot down a few over PNG but the P-40 pilots generally didn't like to mess with the Zero...

[sonzoomspark1]

I once heard that the Japanese used "homebrew" alcohol fuels in the islands when there was a shortage of gasoline, during the war. Can anyone confirm this?

[bevanid]

it was neather it was a cirtuss P-40 kittyhawk / warhawk

[misterawesome1234]

was the plane that zero flew with a p-51 mustang or spitfire?

[meteorseven]

@misterawesome1234

Its a p40 warhawk

[1294DINA39A]

i love you mitsubishe zero x133

[AR15fan]

So there are 3 flyable zeroes now in the U.S. The he model 21 with Confederate Airforce, the model 52 with Planes of Fame, and now this model 22.

[yakovlev3a]

I thought A6m3 had straight wing edges. This looks more like a A6m model 5

[ra301]

A6M3 comes in two flavors type 32, which has straight wing tips. type 22 has folding wing tips just like type 21 (A6M2).

Also, you can easily tell A6M5 apart from earlier A6Ms, as they have exhaust pipes for each cylinder.

[yakovlev3a]

interesting.

One thing I have always found interesting about the zero is the way the hinges for the wings do not come until nearly the tip of the wing. Pushing it out that far retains the strength of the wing structure but it does not save much space at all hahahah

[ra301]

Hi Yakovlev3a!

I've read that the folding wingtip is not for (storage) space saving but to make it easier to fit on the carrier elevator where 1 meter would make a big difference.

[yakovlev3a]

oh really? interesting

[run202run]

I was under the impression this is a replica. Yes?

[adsstorm]

I would like to know where the motor came from. Years ago. 2000-2001 when I was in the Marine corp, some one found a Zero motor moth balled in the back of building at camp pendleton. Any way I got the duty of delivering this donated motor to the confederate air force to mate with a respective zero airframe, and I was wondering if this was the same plane, being that there are very, very few of these zeros flying

[IndianInvasionComedy]

I think this one is owned by the CAF, I think in Camarillo.This video was shot at the Camarillo Air Expo in summer 2008.

[666bassguitar]

The zero is made of wood, not steel

[justforever96]

There aren't many airplanes made of steel, actually. Aluminum is a much wiser choice. And the Zero is hardly a "wooden" plane, though it does use a certain amount, in the fuselage I beleive.

[r380]

@666bassguitar what???

[foxfire046]

great

[ktc8308]

This is not original engine; however it is great to see this Zero flying again.

[ABCC5279]

i saw it fly a year ago i have video of it starting up. it is based in southern california

[apatheticempathy]

the white band on the himurou is way to thick. Isnt this plane now grounded ? where is it today ?

[ABCC5279]

its based in southern california