Hi Ron , if you ever go to Auckland , New Zealand , you should visit The War Memorial Museum . It is easy to get to from the CBD and from the front steps there is a magnificent view over the harbour and part of the Hauraki Gulf . In the Museum there is a completely intact Zero fighter .It was captured by NZ troups in Borneo in 1945 . It was brought back to New Zealand and made airworthy . There were several reports of it flying over Auckland in the late '40s. It is no longer airworthy and has been in the Museum for over sixty years . The Museum also has a Mk 22/ 24 Spitfire . Beautiful plane .

Amazing!!! Hell you could probably do a documentary on the shipping alone because that in itself is a hell of a journey. Fantastic job on the research and putting all the pieces of the puzzle together. Fascinating accomplishment!!!

Ron I absolutely love your work, I have acquired several of your relic displays and I thank you for that.

Ron, I an ecstatic with my Intercept Over Rabaul relic print. The piece from the A6M2 is an iridescent blue-green, wow. It's such a great piece! Appreciate the well done informative video - it makes the print come alive with history.

Back in the 1970's A group of New Zealanders were able to buy several Japanese and other allied war birds from Papua New Guinea. The lid was put on it after some time but the most restorable aircraft were saved and some fly today.

Interesting you mention Saburo he was always a great human being and after buying a copy of the Michael Claringbold book on the Tainan Japanese air group it reminded me of the time that Saburo tried in vain sadly to have recognised the fighting spirit and brave efforts of an RAAF Hudson Bomber aircrew who managed through intrepid defense efforts and an incredibly courageous and strenuous efforts of the pilot making a twin engined bomber fly like a fighter they managed to hold off the inevitable against a patrol of Japanese Zeros of the Tainan Air group led by Saburo which means nobody involved was just another number but like Saburo highly skilled and experienced for over half an hour. Australian authorities refused to recognise their Valor in action even though the leader highly respected of the forces that shot them down tried to bring about the well deserved recognition that crew deserved, When your own enemy recognises your valor and fighting spirit but your own bureaucrats betray that sacred trust and ignore your sacrifice the world is not in a good place sadly. Here from Pacific Wrecks is a more detailed tale of the exploits of this Hudson and it's brave crew who deserve more recognition. pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/hudson/A16-201/panorama_1998.html

That was amazing to watch. Great video and I love how you paid tribute to your father and Sakai san.

WOW! so cool you were able to obtain this piece of history. A very life fulfilling experience! (That I live vicariously through your video. ;))

Great video. I can't enough of your artwork

I have read that book years ago as well, Saburo had such an amazing life. Very impressive piece of history that you have!

I always try to imagine how despite the vastness of our planet, how connected we are. My dad was a Teamster, driving trucks in St. Louis in 1950, and a few months later he was killing Chinese in Korea. This zero met it's fate because of the invention of Mormon in Salt Lake City, Utah. That he happened to be the most prolific gunmaker and one of the most elite inventors and visionaries in history doesn't hurt either. My dad was a rabid Browing collector and I cherish his collection so much because I can be close to him when I'm using them. One of my favorite sayings of his when we were hunting was that Brownings had killed more living things than anything else. Great video.

As a long-time fan of your work, I really appreciate your sharing the story of this artifact. I also read the book Samurai about Sabura Sakai and share your respect. I still have it somewhere.

Great story and an honorable place to display the fuselage. The book Samurai is well worth reading, I’m glad that you mentioned it. Semper Fidelis🇺🇸

I can'r even imagine having something like that in my collection...incredible.

A great piece of Japanese history. Thanks a lot, Colin ( UK )

Excellent video. Congratulations and thank you for sharing.

Fantastic rescue. My father was in 308,425th squadron in b24s in China and took war souvenirs of a Japanese plane, what type i don't know but I inherited 3 gauges from that plane. They look brand new.

Awesome video! So cool to see, I want to visit and I'm not far from Zanesville.

Cool! I got to see some zero’s in the jungles of Palau and Yap.

Hi Ron, As a teenager growing up in northern Ohio in the 1960's I to was inspired by Saburo Sakai and his book Samurai. I became an aeronautical engineer and the rest is history. Thank you for your incredible restoration efforts.

Really REALLY cool piece to have!! I love collecting Axis Pistols and Militaria and that would be one heck of an item to have in a personal collection! Cool to see it’s in my home state of Ohio as well!!

The A6M2-N is a valuable surface fighter with only 327 built!

Outstanding work sir!!

Fantastic video, thank you. Kind regards Tim UK

Royal War Museum in London has a very nice (and not overly restored) example on display and worth seeing. Engineering was exceptional, and led the Allies to come up with machines which could match and later defeat the Zero. Combined with Japan’s loss of tenured pilots, the air superiority Japan started the war with was starting to fade when this example was built.

A Great piece of history. 👍♥️🇺🇸

Great little nugget of history. Even though they will never fly again, hopefully more wrecks of WW2 can be saved before they rot away.

I thought the aircraft was a Type 2 surface fighter (A6M2-N) equipped by the 938th Naval Air Squadron! The only difference that might be discernible in its parts is the location of the steps for climbing. The A6M2's boarding step is on the left side of the cockpit, while the A6M2-N's step is on the right side to avoid the effects of splashing from the propeller! Unfortunately, the boarding steps appear to be in a more rearward lost area.

Thanks for Sharing Ron!

Awesome video! I have your Yamamoto Betty art, with original fragment. Yes, history you can touch.

touching history is a great pleasure

always been fascinated with Japanese machines. they always seem to create them to the best of their ability.

Awesome story!

Holy cow! What a history that thing has! 😮😮😮😮😮😮

Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the A6M2-N does not have a pillar to protect the pilot at the rear of the cockpit. Therefore, the aircraft is definitely an A6M2 carrier-based fighter.

Great stuff. Thanks.

I have that same book by Saburo Sakai, had it since '72. Pretty harrowing when he got shot and then had to have eye surgery without anesthesia.

What happened to the rest of it? I see the rest of the fuselage and engine in the pictures on the island.

Excellent info tks

From the Jungle to his house , it looks well at home...

Does anyone know what ever happened with the 'Atlanta Zero' ? I remember it sitting outside the museum for decades. Tree limbs fell on it, people stole pieces off it, exposed to the elements for decades. But, it was real and cool to see in person! Then it was sold when the museum closed. I lost track after that.

Ah,.... marvelous!!!!

great vid

I’ve seen a restored one in the RAF museum in London.

how much restoration work do you plan to do with this aircraft?

Great story that airplane has

i wonder where the zero that was left in Australia is or went too ?

My guy you brought that Zero to Zanesville Ohio? Where? I wanna see it lol I’m from Athens, Ohio.

Are you restoring this A/C?

Wow....

The legendary Saburo Sakai. Number 1 ichiban!

I believe there is a certain degree of resistance by islanders at having their tourist attractions removed

Interesting I worked in the solomons Is from 2005 to 2008 and the stories I heard about Obtaining these Aircraft was a little different ?????

Great video and incredible finds. Is that a D3A Val at 3:38?

With self-sealing fuel tanks if they could have them, this plane might not be in your hands today. Nice video.

Were these aircraft stripped soon after the war was over?

My dad a Chief Petty Officer with the 20th Naval Construction Battalion, WW2, brought back several small pieces of a Japanese aircraft from new Guinea. One control knob became the head of a cane, other was a yet unidentified tube about ,three inches in diameter. I wonder who has the expertise to possibly identify these parts origin ?

What happened to the g4m that was also recovered from the island?

If Saburo Sakai is such a hero to you, then Tojo must really lift your skirt. The Yasukuni shrine is near Tokyo, as I feel you already are aware but just thought you might need to know.

Ironically Nakajima is now Subaru the automobile manufacturer of dogs and LOVE! Can't make this stuff up!

👍👍👍!!!

I went to the Solomon’s in the 1980s Truc lagoon and coral sea Specifically to dive wrecks I find this interesting From sandusky thanks for posting

What happened to the guns? How was that deal with?

what is the point of polluting it with weeds? Also, if it was "untouched" sense the emergency landing, why is it so fragmented and incomplete..

Saburo Sakai mentioned in his book of resuming A6 sorties from Bougainville after 3 weeks of bad weather. LBJ mentions in his Bio of boarding a bomber for a attack on the Japanese base after Ops had been shut down by 3 weeks of bad weather., LBJ had flown into Brisbane then headed north,the plan was to do one "safe milk run"bombing raid which then would enable him to claim war service in the Pacific against the Japanese, it was all about his political future. He was sitting in the observers seat and got out for a leak,on returning a higher rank Officer had taken his seat so he boarded another aircraft, the original bomber never returned. Japanese claimed more bombers shot down on that day than actual losses.

Hey Ron, the proper spelling and pronunciation is Morse, not Morris code. Also don't tell people the Zero # 830 was emergency landed because of the hole in the TOP of the fuselage tank. There's no way the fuel was able to travel upward to the hole, unless he flew inverted.

a flying Subaru

Will it fly

Nakijima? Funny, I always thought the Zero was manufactured by Mitsubishi. even said do in it's naval designation. A= Fighter/ Fighter bomber 6= Sixth fighter design made by the company M= Mitsubishi 1-5= Variants.

You say they were brought to Mexico, and then to the Panama canal. Why? The Panama canal is south of Mexico!

kam pai ron oupa!

Shouldn’t be so hard to salvage discarded scrap aluminum.

No amount of money could restore that aircraft, at most by the end of the restoration you would have only 2-3% of the original aircraft .

To use it is as a flower pot in a living room is kind of tacky

Saburo Sakai had no reason to not believe in the effort that his country put in WWII in order to improve the life of the Japanese people. And even though they lost the war, they were still able to generate very favorable conditions for Japan to flourish in the post war world by destroying the pre-war colonial system that strangled them before the war.

Bro those pants… gotta go…

Another good documentary ruined by the unnecessary music!

And your not restoring lt.......

Sus purhase history?

great seeing rich people getting anything they want!!! Needed to go to a museum.. That piece should've stayed where it fell it's dishonorable to remove pieces of history where it fell in combat just so somebody can say I have it now it should've stayed where it fell!!! problem we should have with this, Titanic pieces are now in more private hands than museums!!!

Hardly the plane I would want in my living room. Why not speak Japanese for the narration . . . . seems like a celebration of Japanese Imperial aggression with that toast of Sake. Nice 'Red chair' . . . is that Hirohito's throne?

Screw the Zeros, they were the most overrated Japanese fighter of all time. I am more interested in hearing what happened to the Betties.

Wonder what peanuts the islanders got for there history and lost tourism?

I mean on disrespect but if you paid to have it moved across the planet to sit as a "art piece" is not a good thing, it seems douchey. Restore it, put it back in the air or pass it on to someone who will.

why in bloody hell would you waste so much time of your short life on this earth on an ancient weapon of war ??