A6M5 Model 52 Zero

[ColesAircraft]

(Above): Zoukei Mura's photo shoot. They got some great shots! I never thought the Raiden would be revealed to this extent.

This aircraft used to be completely original, but when she sat outdoors in a California park for several years she suffered from vandals and sustained both loss of equipment and superficial damage. When Ed Maloney bought it, he had several repairs made, including the wingtip lights (not original) and resurfacing the control surfaces. The cockpit had lost most of its instruments, throttle quadrant, and other items. Ed replaced most of the cockpit gauges over the years with Japanese ones.

In 1986 the instrument panel still had a lot of empty holes. In 1988 they'd been filled with random US gauges along with the metallic green/gray repaint.

I always wondered about the "no cockpit pictures" rule of PoF, as it's been around for decades. When I called in advance to ask permission to photograph the cockpit of the Raiden (mistake), I was told of that rule. But when I arrived at the museum I asked Steve H. directly and he had the whole thing opened up for me. Maybe he was just happy to see a young kid decked out in warbird-themed paraphernalia and a huge camera bag. But he was always good to me!

- RC

 

[GregP]

Steve is a great guy, as are all of the Museum Board members and staff (well, some are female, but you get the gist, good people).

The real issue is that people want to come in and get a complete photo shoot, and then go home and write articles for pay. None share the benefit with the museum, so we are basically giving people access to make money from it. There is no problem with pics outside the aircraft, and I can still do that easily. But special access shots, while OK for indiividuals to own, are not for public access. At least it is not as restrictive as some museums aorund the world where they won't let you take any pictures without special permission (read that as compensation).

So I can get exterior shots of our planes, but if I get into a cockpit and take some shots, they are not for public posting going forward. That being said, I CAN get shots of landing gear and gear doors, etc. from outside the planes. We have some rather rare aircraft like the Ryan FR-1 Fireball, Northrop N9M-B flying wing, the J2M Raiden, the Yokosuka D4Y-3 Judy, the J8M Shusui, a Horten Ho IV, He-162, Douglas D-228-2, Fieseler Storch, etc., so there are plenty of opportunities for good pics even if I am asked not to post interior pics.

I fully understand their position and will comply with their wishes going forward, yet I can still get some great pics that ARE OK to post.

 

[GregP]

Hey Meatloaf,

You asked for some shots of landing gear. Here are a few.

1) Raiden main gear closeup:

2) Raiden, both mains:

3) Raiden tailwheel"

4) Judy main gear"

5) And finally, here is the bomb we made (I didn't work on the bomb, but watched in interest) in the bomb bay of the Judy:

All for now.

 

[BiffF15]

RC GregP,
Thanks to both of you guys for posting the pictures you have! Very cool to get a look at a Japanese hot rod!
V/R,
Biff

 

[kettbo]

Awesome thread!!!! Great pics!!!! Sadly Everett, WA is 1.5 hrs N of me. A tad far for volunteer work

 

[Aozora]

Ditto Biff Kettbo; thanks for the input Greg Coles.

 

[Wayne Little]

What a super bunch of pics thanks Guys, got the ZM Raiden, a superb looking kit, Box art is smashing Ron, although the top right of my box top took a bit of transit damage to get to me slightly spoiling the delivery...

 

[GregP]

Hi Ketbo,

You must live in Tacoma, Kent, or Renton ... depending on traffic and the time of day, huh?

 

[GregP]

I was asked for an update in here, so ... here goes. You all saw the condition it was in, but it is being overhauled, so the condition gets worse-looking before it gets better. You have to strip the interior COMPLETELY and start from there. I managed to get a good shot that the public could get if they wanted, so I can post it here. Once the rear fuselage is off, you can get a very unusual shot from what ordinarily would be inside the rear fuselage, but you are standing outside since the rear fuselage is removed.

You have to turn it 90° to the left to get a good view, but you can do that, I'm sure. Once the stripping begins, the interior starts to look like this.

The light rust on the steel is because we cleaned it with high pressure steam and water and it is "flash rust." When we get it done, we wipe off the surface rust from the steel and use a rust-converter primer that turns the light rust remaining into a protective coating in which the corrosion has been halted. It works great.

Here is the Nakajima Sakae 21 enginer and Mitsubishi propeller (actually built by Sumitomo).

Can't see much because it is still wrapped in shrink wrap, but you get the idea. Probably time for next post due to pic size.

 

[GregP]

Getting to the YP-59A, we are closing in on final work before the plane goes into Fighter Rebuilders for final checkout before the flight test program. One of the guys (Alex) is reskinning the starboard aileron and here it is.

Many people aren't aware of it, but if you own a P-51 Mustang, you have to remove the propeller every 5 years and send it in to a prop shop for inspection of the splines. Here is a P-51 that came due. Nothing wrong with it ... just time to have the prop get a physical exam.

We own a P-51A (Allison powered version) and for the last 5 - 6 years have had nothing but problems ... all of which are centered in the radiator. EVERY time we (Fighter Rebuilders, not me) fixed it and flew it, it sprung another leak from somewhere else. When we DID fly it, we got maybe 3 - 4 circuits of the field done before the temp started to climb. We finally gave in, cried "Uncle" and decided to build another radiator for it ourselves. Here is where we are right now on it.

As you can see, the new radiator is coming along quite well and Miss Virginia SHOULD be back in the air soon, with a clean bill of health. The Allison runs sweet but DOES tend to overheat when you lose all the coolant!

all for now, - Greg

 

[GregP]

Here's our D4Y3 Judy and J2M Raiden in the background.

We made the bomb from sheet metal and it very light.

Nothing to do with the Zero but here is our Seversky AT-12. It is a 2-seat version of the P-35 and was a fighter-trainer. This plane was flown by Clark Gable in the 1938 movie "Test Pilot."

According to John Maloney it flies great and climbs VERY well.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Excellent collection and pics!

 

[oldcrowcv63]

2) Here is our Curtiss P-40N. It is the plane that straffed Tom Cruise in Valkyrie and also flew in Pearl Harbor and a lot of other movies:
View attachment 249260

4) I don't have a pic yet of our Tora, Tora, Tora Val (really a Vultee BT-15), but here is our REAL Aichi D3A Val that is in line for restoration when some projects get completed:
View attachment 249262

Just saw Tora Tora Tora on cable last week and was interested to see they actually made an attempt to modify a late model P-40 to make it appear to be P-40B flown by Taylor and Welch out of Haliewa field. Evidently that wasn't good enough for Hollywood as Michael Bay and Bruckheimer, substituted fictional pilots flying anachronistic aircraft out of Wheeler Field.

When I was on active duty, some of our squadron's pilots participated in the making of Tora Tora Tora by flying the simulated IJN aircraft. Returning to the states aboard the Kitty Hawk (sometimes called by her crew the Shi**y Kitty, but a good ship nonetheless) were a replica VAL and KATE. I've always wondered where they ended up. I guess one such VAL is at PoF and there was another at VMAM in Virginia Beach.


from: Tora! Tora! Tora! - The making of the movie - American Production

"Air Operations for "Tora! Tora! Tora!" involved the most extensive use of op*erable aircraft ever employed in the making of a film and the Fox "air force" totaled more than seventy planes, ranging from types modified for Japanese military aircraft of World War II to Flying Fortresses, P-40's and PBY's.
The re-creation of a Japanese strike force for bombing, strafing and torpedo runs against Pearl Harbor posed a stag*gering problem. At first, it was hoped that authentic "Zeros," "Vals" and "Kates" could be found. Research and survey moved across the Pacific to the Solomons, the Yap group, and other far-flung islands. Some of these islands were by-passed by the U.S. fast carrier forces, and Japanese aircraft were known to exist on them. Still photographs revealed palm trees growing up through wings and other signs of deterioration.

The Fox survey team found it would take at least five authentic Japanese aircraft to make one, not counting the need for completely new engines. Further, harbors being non-existent on these islands, or at a distance from the rotting fields of aircraft, it would be necessary to lift each airframe by helicopter and then barge them either to Japan or the United States for rebuilding. The cost would have been prohibitive.

The decision was then made to modify existing airframes of AT-6 and BT-13 types. Steward-Davis, Inc., and Cal-Volair, both of Long Beach, Cali*fornia, began this work early August, 1968. In Japan, C. Itoh Company modified nineteen AT-6 aircraft, de*clared surplus by the United States Military Assistance and Advice Group, and made available to 20th Century-Fox.

The AT-6 was modified to duplicate the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M2, type 21; the BT-13 was modified to duplicate the Aichi 99 "Val" dive bomber, and the Nakajima 97 "Kate" torpedo bomber was made from a combination of BT-13 and AT-6 fuselages."

Great Photos and narrative Greg. Its easy to envy your proximity to and work with the old birds.

 

[VBF-13]

Greg, this is just mind-boggling. That A6M cockpit is amazing. Not that you'd have permission to post them, but just fill me in, you're going off actual blueprints? I can't put a model plane together without a blueprint.

Oldcrowcv63, my dad had those "Zekes" as SNJs. He's just Navy. AT6s, dressed-up, lol, who could tell?

 

[GregP]

After you work on WWII aircraft long enough, you get to know how they go together. The Zero was in a sad state when restoration was started, but they toook pics when taking it apart, and everything went back togther when it came out. We also had the plane's original designer, Jiro Horikoshi, visit during the restoration and give some advice on what was authentic.

The only accommodation made was to move the pilot's seat back about 6 inches. Our pilots were bigger than WWII Japanese pilots and their legs were very cramped. Now the cockpit fits better, but everyting in it is genuine except for a few American instruments. For those, the instruments were disassembled and painted to look like the original Japanese instruments. The guys who fly it know where the needles are supposed to be for rpm and manifold pressure. The altimeter is in feet, but everything else looks authentic.

 

[GregP]

Maybe another update. Here is the interior of the Zero all clean and almost ready for primer.

Thought I might add a few unusual things. Here is a genuine rocket engine from a Mitsubishi J8M-1. We have the only complete airframe in the world and I have posted it here before, but never a pic of the rocket motor.

Here is a cutaway WWII US turbocharger.

All for now. Time for next post.

 

[GregP]

Here is a cutaway Pratt WHitney R-4360.

Here is a slightly elevated rear shot of a Bf 109E that was pulled from the bottom of a Russian lake, ready for restoration that has not yet been started.

Since that was German, here is a shot a complete BMW 003 E-1 turbojet that could be restored to running condition. Currently no plans to do that, but it could be done.

Last for this trip, here is a flyable replica Fokker DR-1 Triplane. This one has a radial in it and not a rotary.

All for this time. - Greg

 

[parsifal]

what an unbelievably good thread. ive only just discovered it. man havent got the time right now to look in detail, but have "bookmarked" this thread by posting. ill be back a bit later on

Nice thread greg

 

[davparlr]

Since that was German, here is a shot a complete BMW 003 E-1 turbojet that could be restored to running condition. Currently no plans to do that, but it could be done.

View attachment 253544

Greg, I think you should rebuild it and put it in your He 162, get all your pilots together and ask them to raise their hands if they were willing to test fly it!

 

[GregP]

Thanks Parsifal!

Hi Dave,

Unfortunately the sum total of pilots who want to fly it if it were restored is zero.

The wood wings were coming apart in WWII due to slave labor sabotage, and someone would have to build a new set of wings. Also, the BMW 003 doesn't exactly have the greatest reliability record in the world either. It is one thing to fly something under pressure of war and quite another to risk your life just for the sake of flying a WWII relic with not the greatest reputation to start with.

It might be possible to talk them into restoring it for static runable condition, but we are engaged actively right now in six volunteer projects and two for Fighter Rebuilders. They DID allow three of us to restore to runnable comdition a WWII pulsejet and it was featured in our airshow in 2009. When we get the Bell YP-59A out of the restoration hanger, the next might be the Aichi D3A Val, but that can change like a leaf in the wind. Last but not least, the decision on how to proceed next comes entirely from the Museum Board of Directors or from Steve Hinton, whichever says something first.

I have no trouble asking Steve for technical help if I need it but would hesitate to ask him to bump a project up in the priority list. He has a lot on his platter and the last thing he needs is 300 volunteers all wanting to go in different directions.

However, I'd love to see it made taxiable myself. I suppose we'll see, won't we? I personally have no track record making wood aircraft. The one guy who does restored the Northrop N9MB Flying Wing ... and he isn't interested in the He 162 at all. So I suppose the direction will be shown to us and we'll go there. But next time you are there, feel free to ask Steve about it. Maybe that would help.

I'm sure if someone showed up with some money for it, some consideration might be forthcoming. Left to our own resources the priority list is very probably already set. And we STILL have yet to start up the Bell YP-59 that has been ongoing since 1992! Soon now ...