[arisakadogs]

If ever in southern Commiefornia, this is a cool place to visit. They have the only fully original flying Zero in the world (A65M). Captured on Saipan.
Many of their planes came out of the old Ontario Air Museum where they had a nice Raiden. The photo of it was taken in the '60s with my Dad and brother.

 

[springerlover2]

WOW = those are great shots! Thanks for posting them

 

[NMCB62]

uber cool, do you know what ever happend to the plane on the trailer? it seems 95% intact.

 

[arisakadogs]

uber cool, do you know what ever happend to the plane on the trailer? it seems 95% intact.

I believe it's at the Planes of Fame now in Chino but it has been a while since I've been there.
In that second photo the pilot had just started the engine and the smoke wafted over Shin & me. I said to him "smell that? Smells
like history"

I just checked and, yes, the Raiden is still there as a static display. Here's a link where you can see the neat stuff they have
http://planesoffame.org/index.php?page=static-flying

 

[JWMWITZ]

I took these at the Monroe, NC Airshow last year

John in Charlotte, NC

 

[srinde]

I was there in '84 or '85. Great place to check out.

 

[edwardc]

Both of the aircraft at the NC show were tora-tora-tora Planes built from T6 trainers. still pretty cool. The planes of fame aircraft are the real deal.

 

[arisakadogs]

Roger that.
They did use this A6M5 in that lame arse movie Pearl Harbor. In fact that's where it went that day we saw it take off. Of course we know there weren't any A6M5s used at Pearl Harbor let alone any Zeros that were painted green

 

[surfnhogan]

i live in north county san diego and have not heard of "planes of fame". where are they located??? i always go to the miramar show just to look at the vintage planes. usually they are the same ones every year but it's great to see them flying. my father was a b-25 pilot in the japanese theater but there was'nt much of a japanese airforce left by the time he got there, lucky for him!

 

[mike radford]

If you want to see vintage planes, go to Pima AZ air museum. It is the third best air musem in the US. Vintage planes in huge all day volume. Second only to Air Space plus annex in DC and WP in Dayton, OH. I will take it over Dayton.

If you want to see them fly, plan a trip to Duxford UK. Home of the US air museum for WW2 and where many of our guys flew from, near Cambridge and North of London. Their airshows with vintange planes are second to none. How about 7 spitfires of diffenent types flying at one time. Throw in a few P-51's and a Me109 with a Merlin flying at the same time and such engine music can be found no where else. They have 3 or 4 flying shows per year, but they have a huge museum and restoration facility as well. Google and ye shall find. Worth a vacation plan. Amazing.

 

[Vicasoto]

Hi surfnhogan :

The Planes of Fame Museum is located at Chino Airport, from 60 fwy get off at Euclid Ave. go south an turn left on Merrill Ave., if you are coming up on I - 15 take the 91 west, then north on the 71, get off on Euclid Ave. go north and turn right at Merrill. There are large signs on Euclid when you are near the airport.
Vicasoto

 

[SVD Tiger]

I always thought the J2M Jack/Raiden was the better aircraft/ intercepter over the N1K2 George/Shiden and so the IJN should of built it instead of spread between the two models.

 

[surfnhogan]

thanks for the directions vic! probably about hour to hour and a half from where i live. will definately check it out.

 

[mexicanwar]

Great place Met Pappy Boington there Also George gay and Saburō Sakai in the late seventies

 

[gremlin1945]

"If you want to see them fly, plan a trip to Duxford UK."

Is the ME163 Komet still there.I was there in 1995 and it was a sight to see.I was told by one of the worker there that the Komet they had was the one that Hanna Reitch crashed in during the war.I wa sdisappointed that they didn't have an ME 262 Swallow.
I've heard there's one somewhere in a Navy museum somewhere in Pa.
There is/was an ME 262 engine in a small air museum in a small airport near Cherry Hill NJ.That I did see.

 

[mike radford]

I do not recall seeing a Komet. There is lots of other rare stuff there. There is a people's fighter jet in the big museum in London.

There is a beautiful Me262 in the Smithsonian ASM.

 

[gremlin1945]

I do not recall seeing a Komet. There is lots of other rare stuff there. There is a people's fighter jet in the big museum in London.

There is a beautiful Me262 in the Smithsonian ASM.

Maybe the Komet is on loan.They do tend to rotate the displays.Is the 262 in the main hall where the SR-71 is?I ask because I was there two years ago and didn't see it.I think there's only one original one flying although there were some replicas in const.

 

[jac72t]

Maybe the Komet is on loan.They do tend to rotate the displays.Is the 262 in the main hall where the SR-71 is?I ask because I was there two years ago and didn't see it.I think there's only one original one flying although there were some replicas in const.

The Me-262 is at the NASM facility on the Mall in the District. The SR71 is at the Udvar Hazy facility at Dulles.

There are no original flying Me-262s in the world -- only flying replicas.

 

[JWMWITZ]

Roger that.
They did use this A6M5 in that lame arse movie Pearl Harbor. In fact that's where it went that day we saw it take off. Of course we know there weren't any A6M5s used at Pearl Harbor let alone any Zeros that were painted green

The planes at the NC show were mock-ups and listed as such. The only "real" Japanese planes I have ever seen have been wrecks in the jungle or at the bottom of the Pacific. I would like to see a real one fly someday.

One day back in the summer of 1985, I was sitting on a Lake Michigan beach when a group of five Japanese marked planes flew at 500 feet right down the beach. They were coming from Osh Kosh I think. Anyway it was fun to see; we waved our arms and the pilots waggled their wings. Great memory.

John in Charlotte, NC

 

[BOUGAINVILLE]

There is a complete Mitsubishi A6M3 Zeke 22 housed in the Auckland War Memorial Museum in Auckland New Zealand. I doesn't fly now of course but was in a flyable condition when it was shiped to New Zealand after the war. It's story is quite interesting so for those that are interested I have included a link that tells it's story.

http://www.j-aircraft.com/walk/robert_montgomery/auckland_war_memorial_a6m3.htm

Cheers,
BOUGAINVILLE