Aircraft History
Built by Mitsubishi on February 19, 1942 at Nagoya.

Mission History
Took off from Ryujo for the attack Dutch Harbor as a diversion prior to the Battle of Midway. Hit by ground fire over the target, this Zero made a forced landing on Akutan Island, with gear down. The plane flipped over on the soft marsh ground and killed the pilot.

"Aleutian Zero" Discovery by US Forces
Five weeks later, the wreck was spotted by a PBY over flight, piloted by Lt. Willams Thies. A US Navy scouting party visited the crash on July 5, 1942 and found the dead pilot and the damaged, but repairable Zero. This wreck became know to Americans as the "Aleutian Zero" or "Alaska Zero". It was carefully salvaged and transported to Dutch Harbor by cargo ship and then to NAS North Island arriving in August 1942.

Repair and Technical Evaluation
The aircraft's tail and canopy were repaired without any technical documentation, and propeller replaced with an American hamilton-standard. The aircraft was repaired by October, for flight evaluation in the San Diego area, with US markings and assigned number TAIC 1. It was flown in tests and against other American planes including a P-38F, P-39D-1, P-40F, P-51, and an F4U-1.

This Zero was also known to have been sent to Langley for equipment instillation for flight performance. Afterwards it was sent to the PAX River Naval Air Flight Test Center in Maryland. At some point at the end of the war or soon afterwards, it was scrapped or otherwise disposed.

References
Thanks to Robert Rocker, Jim Long and Richard Dunn for additional information
Setting Suns page 80

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Last Updated
October 1, 2009

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