Thanks, Bill. I called an old friend in Galveston who had worked on
the plane. It was an A6M3 model but the original engine (the 950 hp
Sakae) had been removed and replaced with the 1000 hp Kensei-43 (which
was used in the float plane version during WWII). He informed me that
I had flown it with the Kensei engine which was (as I correctly
recalled) replaced that same year with the Pratt-Whitney R-1830 much
like the one you can see at <www.warbirdalley.com/zero.htm>. The
engine replacement was necessitated by an irreplacable broken crank
and counter balancer. Sadly this particular aircraft is no longer
airworthy. It awaits someone with major money and major time to come
along and get it restored.
Cheers!!
Jim
On 2/8/07, Bill Gilroy <wmgilroy@gmail.com> wrote:
> From the Wekipedia,
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A6M_Zero
>
>
> ________________________________________________________
>
> Several Zero fighters survived the war and are on display in Japan (in
> Aichi, Hamamatsu and Shizuoka), China (in Beijing) and the UK (Duxford). A
> number of flyable Zero airframes exist; most have had their engines replaced
> with similar American units; only one, the Planes of Fame Museum's example,
> bearing tail number "61-120" (see external link below) has the original
> Sakae engine. [2] Although not truly a survivor, the "Blayd" Zero is a
> reconstruction based on templating original Zero components recovered from
> the South Pacific; a small fraction of parts in the reconstruction are from
> original Zero landing gears. [4][5] The aircraft is now on display at the
> Fargo Air Museum in Fargo, North Dakota
> ________________________________________________________
>
>
>
> On 2/8/07, Jim Johnson <bmwwxman@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Mike,
> >
> > If you find out who is still flying an original, please let me know. I
> > wasn't aware that any were still flyable!
> >
> >
>
--
1964 R60/2 BMW
1968 MG Midget
1976 R90/6 BMW
1990 K100LT BMW
Thomas Huxley - "It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of
importance."
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