Warbird Information Exchange

An event decades in the making occurred Wednesday as the pride of the Japanese military in WWII, a Zero fighter plane, flew over the Magic City.

"The Last Samurai," an A6M2 Model 21 Zero, is currently on display at the Dakota Territory Air Museum and is only one of three Zeros left in the world that is still capable of flying.

This fighter was recovered from the island jungles of Ballale in 1965, a small island 11 miles south of Bougainville that is part of the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The island was used by the Imperial Japanese Naval and Army Air Forces as a depot to repair planes during the war.

Warren Pietsch, who flew the plane into Minot from Fargo where it was at a museum, said there were two manufacturers for the Zero - Mitsubishi and Nakajima. This plane is a Nakajima, Pietsch said, because of the white circle around the red Hinomaru, which designates the rising sun. This plane is the naval version of the Zero, and has folding wing tips.

"When they designed this airplane it didn't quite fit in the elevators of the (aircraft) carriers, so they put together this little mod so that they could get them on the carriers and get them down underneath," Pietsch said.

He said about four planes were brought back from the island depot. One is on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, but will never fly again because it is so corroded from its time in the jungle.

"Two of the Zeros were taken apart and used as patterns and pieces for this airplane, and it was completely reconstructed based on those airplanes, drawings, and a Japanese engineer that came over and helped to interpret," Pietsch said. "It's a 25-year restoration ... and it'd be the only one that you'd probably ever see fly."

The plane was purchased by the Blayd Corporation in Wahpeton, with Tri-State Aviation in Wahpeton doing the majority of the restoration work to get the plane flyable, while Calverleys in Carman, Man., built the airframe. Pietsch is one of the partners in the plane, and has been involved with it for the past 10 years.

While they were able to get specifications for most of the parts for the airplane from the other two Zeros, Pietsch said a U.S. engine has been installed in this Zero to make it flyable. He noted this is actually the type of U.S. engine the original Zero prototypes had before an embargo during the war forced Japan to use its own engines.

While Japanese Zeros are rare to begin with, Pietsch said the fact that this one can still fly sets it apart as one of the most special models of Zero left in the world.

"The model 21A6M2-21 is what attacked in Pearl Harbor, and this airplane was a little bit late for Pearl Harbor but it's still the same dash number. ... This is the only one flying of that model that's around," he said. "I think there's only three Zeros flying right now in the world, and this is the only one of the Pearl Harbor model."

Pietsch said the plane is quite impressive when viewed against its contemporaries. As an example, he said a North American T-6 airplane at the museum has 600 horsepower and weighs about 5,000 pounds.

"This airplane weighs the same and it's got 1,350 horse, so the acceleration is (incredible)," he said, noting the top speed of the plane is 311 knots, or 350 mph.

To keep the Zero so light, the skin of the plane was only 16-thousandths of an inch thick. For comparison, a P-51 Mustang had skin that was 40- or 50-thousandths thick, which is why retractable pegs were used so a Zero pilot could safely get inside the cockpit without damaging the plane.

"So on a P-51 you can practically walk anywhere on the airplane, these things (Zeros) you can push on them and dent them just about anywhere," Pietsch said.

Pietsch said flying the Zero is extremely exhilarating because it is first and foremost a high-performance airplane.

"It's very light, a lot of power. It's a little nerve-racking knowing that you're sitting in something that took a large number of people 25 years to rebuild and restore, and to know it's the only one in the world," he said. "So you're pretty careful about what days you fly it and how you treat it and make sure everything's working good before you go fly it and that kind of stuff. It's fun."

While Pietsch loves flying the Zero, he said it does have its downsides. Because it was a combat plane, it didn't exactly have modern aviation amenities like clean air to breath or insulation to keep engine and machine gun noise out. Pietsch described flying it as hot and smelly when compared to modern aircraft.

"The new airplanes are so refined in how the controls feel, and how comfortable they are and stuff. This is, there's no insulation, it's very noisy inside," he said. "The carbon monoxide in this airplane is terrible because of where the (engine) stacks are and the way it comes into the cockpit and stuff. I'm sure they had a lot of problems with that in the war. They installed a huge air vent in this one that opens up over on the other wing that forces the air through so it's not so bad."

Pietsch also noted that two large holes in the front dash of the cockpit were for machine guns, with the gun barrels extending down the cowling. There was also a gun in each wing.

"They actually cocked the guns right in front of them, so when they shot them, can you image the smell of the cordite from the machine guns right in your face while you're shooting and stuff?" Pietsch said. "And that's what these blast tubes were for, because they were actually to exit the gas off the machine gun when they were shooting."

The plane was in an air show in Grand Forks before being flown to Minot. Pietsch said it had been sitting dormant for five years before that.

The plane will be on display in the Dakota Territory Air Museum for at least a month, maybe longer. It will be flown to Oshkosh, Wis., in mid-July for an air show before coming back to Minot where it will await a Japanese film crew.

"There's a Japanese film company coming the last two weeks of August, and they're gonna spend as much time as it takes to get their footage and they're gonna do a program on Japanese television on this airplane and produce some DVDs from it and stuff," Pietsch said. "The airplane's got a lot of notoriety, it's a pretty famous airplane in aviation circles."

"I'm sure you'll see it flying around town a little bit on and off, we'll have it out, Don't think you're being attacked. They'll be more modern stuff when that happens," Pietsch added with a laugh.

Pietsch said the Zero is a great centerpiece for the Dakota Territory Air Museum to show the history of the Zero. After the Japanese film crew is done, Pietsch said the plane will go up for auction, so its final destination is unknown.

He realizes some people, including veterans who had to fight against the Zero in WWII, might not be too happy to have it here. But he thinks having it in Minot will provide a great educational experience that might never come around again.

"It's a huge honor to get to fly these airplanes. I haven't met a Japanese fighter pilot, I probably never will, but I've met a lot of guys that fought against these things over the years and, you know, they walk up to the airplane - you get a lot of mixed reactions," Pietsch said. "Some people don't like them, and you can't blame them. But it brings back a lot of memories about their times and stuff over there and I think it's a good display to bring to do that."

"The Last Samurai," an A6M2 Model 21 Zero, is currently on display at the Dakota Territory Air Museum and is only one of three Zeros left in the world that is still capable of flying.

"Two of the Zeros were taken apart and used as patterns and pieces for this airplane, and it was completely reconstructed based on those airplanes, drawings, and a Japanese engineer that came over and helped to interpret," Pietsch said. "It's a 25-year restoration ... and it'd be the only one that you'd probably ever see fly."

The plane was purchased by the Blayd Corporation in Wahpeton, with Tri-State Aviation in Wahpeton doing the majority of the restoration work to get the plane flyable, while Calverleys in Carman, Man., built the airframe.

While they were able to get specifications for most of the parts for the airplane from the other two Zeros, Pietsch said a U.S. engine has been installed in this Zero to make it flyable. He noted this is actually the type of U.S. engine the original Zero prototypes had before an embargo during the war forced Japan to use its own engines.

Pietsch said the Zero is a great centerpiece for the Dakota Territory Air Museum to show the history of the Zero. After the Japanese film crew is done, Pietsch said the plane will go up for auction, so its final destination is unknown.

it is the only a6m2 model 21 flying but as you say there two other later model zero's flying (an a6m3 model 22 and p.of.'s a6m5 model52).

Let's not forget the A6M3 at Mojave which, as far as I know, is still flyable although possibly not flown very often. (If at all)

3) Paul Allen's at FHC - it has flown but was converted to a 2 seat model and has not flown since the mod

I specifically asked him about the Pratt & Whitney 1340 engine and he told me that the original prototype's had them in them prior to the outbreak of hostilities. And that the airplane is about the same weight as a T-6 but has twice as much power. That is all straight from the horses mouth so to speak. this is NOT a replica!!! If you get up close and really look at it - it is about as authentic as you can get. It is just outstanding.

I wasn't aware that it had flown. Any corroborating evidence for this?

I was under the impression that there were only three Zeros used in the Pearl Harbor film:

Planes of Fame
Mojave
CAF

I can't recall who owned the other two at the time, but correspondence with Steve Hinton confirmed only three.

From the article:

"While they were able to get specifications for most of the parts for the airplane from the other two Zeros, Pietsch said a U.S. engine has been installed in this Zero to make it flyable. He noted this is actually the type of U.S. engine the original Zero prototypes had before an embargo during the war forced Japan to use its own engines."





Both these statements are incorrect. The Zero, from the prototype until the last model, NEVER had a U.S. engine or exact copy of it installed in the airframe. Also, it always had a twin row engine, so the 1340 statement is complete hogwash as well.

Otherwise nice article.

Technically, there are 5 Zero's that have flown since their restorations back to flying condition:

1) The CAF's - currently flying
2) The Mojave one - flies only rarely
3) Paul Allen's at FHC - it has flown but was converted to a 2 seat model and has not flown since the mod
4) The POF's original Sakae powered one - currently flying
5) This one at Tri-state, ex-Blayd corp - currently flying

There are another 2 in Japan that are airworthy that were restored in Japan by businessman Nabuo Harada, but they will never fly due to governmental red tape.