Warbird Information Exchange

Corky Meyer in one of his excellent articles about test flying for Grumman during WW2 mentioned that he flew a captured Zero and that the Nakajima engine had a data plate that was a near duplicate of the Pratt and Whitney data plate including the eagle and the words "Dependable Engines" in English! All other characters were Japanese. Unfortunately there were no photographs to back up the claim. Can anyone confirm or deny? Might it have been a joke worked up by someone who worked on the aircraft down the line? I know enough about the Sakae to know that while perhaps very similar to the R-1830 it was certainly not a copy and no parts were interchangeable.

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"I can't understand it, I cut it twice and it's still too short!" Robert F. Dupre' 1923-2010 Go With God.

how else could they keep a captured plane flying.

i've got an italian ww2 sperry named gyro horizon with license rights to the u.s., do you think the italians are cutting through all the red tape?? no way.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

believe it or not, in the late 30's many top level u.s. aircraft companies sold prototype planes / instrumentation / gear to future ww 2 combatants. while this might have been a breech of security, & a comprimise of national security, it was perfectly legal at the time. to this day, there are countless loopholes that allow our technology to be sifted in the same manner.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!