Man Spent Years Studying The Last Original AGM Zero Fighter, And He Uncovered A Wild Fact
The year is 1991, and researchers have discovered the wreck of a Mitsubishi Zero A6M deep within the Indonesian jungle. It’s been 50 years since this aircraft – a legendary Japanese dogfighter – was gunned down over New Guinea, and soon the plane will be shipped to the United States before making its way to veteran Steve Barber. Yet the story is only just beginning. After years of studying the once-great Zero, the ex-Marine will uncover some startling facts about its past.
A flying menace
For all its ability to turn like a top, the Zero was not perfect. As Barber told Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine in 2007, “The Japanese government... were looking for climbability and maneuverability.” The airman has a deep understanding of the Zero, too, and this knowledge has yielded a rather shocking secret.
Shot down
The Zero that Barber has flown, though, was originally shot out of the sky in 1941 during World War II. Having crashed into the Indonesian jungle, the plane was then pulled out of its resting place 50 years on. Apparently, whoever had recovered the craft had intended to fix it back up, but the job was not complete. Now, however, the Zero is the only plane of its type that can still fly.
Mint condition
In fact, the Zero had only needed a handful of changes – the addition of GPS navigation, for instance – to bring it in line with modern aviation standards. Barber explained to Stuff, “The airplane is as it was. The cockpit is original.” Indeed, as a whole, he said, the retrieved dogfighter looked as though it had just come out of the factory.
Movie star
And once the plane’s restoration was finished, the craft was in good enough condition to become a movie star. In a July 2011 video interview, Barber explained to AVWeb of the Zero, “This particular aircraft was just completed in time to fly in the… movie Pearl Harbor.
