Interesting find of a Japanese Zero wreck

[Tabonga | 2,348]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/scuba-diver-explores-mysterious-wwii-210009339.html

I love stuff like this.  The conclusion that the plane ran out of fuel is likely correct - the propeller blades  don't seem to be bent - which would have happened if they hit the water under power.  

I liked the fact that they were able to trace info on the pilot from the serial number -  kinda boggles the mind that such records from paper sources still exist and can be tracked.

And the pilot's likely fate is somewhat ironic given that towards the end of WWII there were a lot of instances of Japanese soldiers resorting to cannibalism (generally allied POWs).

Edited May 29, 2020 by Tabonga

[Jfreakofkorn | 282]

Aka flying gas tank . Not to many surviving in flying condition today . Many have been becoming artificial reef(s) or found in water at depth(s) ( just like this one ) . Neat find and looks pretty much intact which is a plus if they do decide in lifting it out of the water like they did with a dornier 17 ( DO 17 ) or aka the flying pencil . they found it some years off the coast of england andd raised her out of the water . Only example found intact from what they say . . . . 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Jfreakofkorn

[Tabonga | 2,348]

3 hours ago, Jfreakofkorn said:

Aka flying gas tank . Not to many surviving in flying condition today . Many have been becoming artificial reef(s) or found in water at depth(s) ( just like this one ) . Neat find and looks pretty much intact which is a plus if they do decide in lifting it out of the water like they did with a dornier 17 ( DO 17 ) or aka the flying pencil . they found it some years off the coast of england andd raised her out of the water . Only example found intact from what they say . . . . 

Flying gas tank or not they  essentially mopped up the skies immediately after Pearl Harbor* (the US only had two really good (IMHO) military aircraft at the start of WWII- and neither of them were fighters).   Claire Chenault and the AVG had figured out how to at least hold their own with P40s against the (then) modern Japanese fighters but no one bothered to ask them how to do it.

From what I understand almost all (if not all) of the surviving zeros have been pieced together from parts scavenged from wherever.  

Here is an interesting (if somewhat sad) show about an attempt to fly an abandoned B-29 out of Greenland - they got it working and were going to fly it out when a fire started and destroyed the plane.

*If you haven't read it Samurai! by Saburo Sakai (a Japanese naval fighter ace)  is a really good read.

Edited May 30, 2020 by Tabonga