World's only Nakajima "Kate" arrives in UK

Quote from Graeme C: It all depends how well the restoration is, if a collection can get alot of original parts then surely it is worth seing the Zero fly. If you look at the spitfires and hurricanes being restored at the moment, would you say they are reproductions? as alot of the parts are not original?

The trouble is Graeme is that the Spit and Hurri were flown by various airforces until much later than the Zero finished operational flying, I know that the French used some Ki-43s in Indo China but did they use anything else anybody? this makes the support and spares side of things VERY expensive, the example(s?) being restored by Darrel Skuritch in the states for example are having to be totally re-made. Take a wheel hub for example, if you want an original you’d need to have a new batch re-casting and machining and then stress analyzing as ther are no spares to speak of. The industry has trouble with spit spares now so you can imagine the Zero situation which is probably why nobody has thought about bringing one to the UK as most enthusiastic owners over here go for the originality side more than some American owners.

Tom.

any news on the TFCS KI-43 OSCAR?

Yeah i think it is unlikely that they will stay. I kinda have the feeling the war against Japan is forgotten in the UK. There is no japanese aircraft or replicas at airshows.

It all depends how well the restoration is, if a collection can get alot of original parts then surely it is worth seing the Zero fly. If you look at the spitfires and hurricanes being restored at the moment, would you say they are reproductions? as alot of the parts are not original? but even if the aircraft is restored for static its not going to be 100% original.

Having heard of many rare types like this arrive in the uk it seems unlikely that these will ever been seen in public in the UK. Call me a sceptic but my guess is that they will go to the land of the $$$$.
Just like the Twin Mustang that was registered to a Jersey based company and all the other stuff from Russia. Sad but true.

I agree with Bruce on this one the ‘rarity’ of the recovered Japanese types should be considered more important to preserve and display them rather then rebuild them to fly. If they were to be flown they would end up little more than modern reproductions, probably using America P+W engines and tyres from a Learjet. A carefull rebuild to static display is by far the best solution, the question remains by whom ? Japan would be a obvious choice however they seem to have little interest in their war time history.

DOUGHNUT

These are certainly very siginificant recoveries, but dont lets get carried away.

The P63’s are certainly rebuildable, but it all comes down to value at the end of the day. I dont know what a flyable ’63 is worth at the moment, but I suspect rather less than a P-51 despite the (relative) rarety. On another forum, it was mentioned that the big problem with the 63 is the reduction gear nose case. All of those shown are either damaged or non existent. Again, these can be remade, but will be VERY expensive. Nevertheless, I think they will be rebuilt in the fullness of time.

The Zero and the Kate are rather different propositions. It is to be hoped that there are more recoveries to be made, to add to the parts that are already there. Both will serve as identities if a rebuild were to be undertaken, but there would be virtually nothing left of the original if they were rebuilt to fly.

I would like to see them in a museum, displayed as recovered – they have far more meaning that way. Perhaps the Zero could be added to the parts that IWM have – they would be a lot closer with their project then!

Cheers

Bruce

thank you anneorac, excellent website! would love to see the Zero, kate and Kingcobras flying again. I dont know alot about aircraft wrecks, but they dont look in too bad condition? Just just need some TLC!

Have a look at these links lifted from WIX.

http://community.webshots.com/album/71451040eLchlT

http://community.webshots.com/album/83659849dtbSZd

Anne