Mission Complete: A6M Zero Returns Home to Japan

 

Seen here in this AP photo by Eugene Hoshiko is a recovered Imperial Japanese Navy Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter that was downed sometime in Papua New Guinea during WWII. She was brought to the United States and painstakingly restored over many years before being returned home to Japan after it's long patrol. The plane that once was the most feared plane in the skies in the early stages of the Great Pacific War has been put on public exhibition at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama Prefecture. While the current display has the vintage fighter without its tail & rudder assembly, the owner Masahide Ishizuka hopes to have her in flying condition for the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII. We at American Mishima appreciate the efforts of both U.S. & Japanese recovery teams in their efforts to locate and recover both aircraft and missing airmen still listed as missing in action so that both the families of the lost airmen may find closure and the can be restored as living reminders of the sacrifices of these men who served their countries so long ago.