Aircraft History
Built in November 1942 by Nakajima. The right side of the fuselage has Houkoku Number 1053.  Indicating it was donated by zen-nan-nori-gou (All-south-sea-moss, a seaweed processing company). Possibly flown by 253rd Kokutai pilot Shibayama.

Wartime History
Abandoned at either Kara Airfield, Kahilli Airfield or Ballale Airfield. It is unclear which airfield.

Wreckage
Remained until 1968.

Ryan Toews adds:
"I know at one time I surmised this [Zero was at Kahilli] as a possibility but I am not sure of this at all."

Recovery
Front fuselage and tail section recovered by Robert Diemert in 1968, along with: A6M2 3471, A6M2 CN? and a D3A2 3178, in addition to other Zero parts from other wrecks. These relics were transported to Port Moresby where they were stored for a month at Jackson Airport. The relics were left in a pile until a deal was setup with the Canadian Air Force to transport them aboard a Hercules back to Canada in the middle of January 1969.

Restoration
During the restoration of a Zero for the CAF, this fuselage was spilt into two. The front (cockpit / center section) was used in the restoration of A6M2 5356 for the CAF.

Rear Section Sold
In the 1970s the rear section of the fuselage, with the Houkoku Number on it, was sold to the Planes of Fame Museum. Later, it was sold by the Plane of Fame Museum to Tsukasa Kahi, a collector in Japan in exchange for some Zero parts.

According to Kenji Miyazaki (via Ryan Towes):
"I saw Houkoku 1053 at Mr Kai's house. It is now disassembled. Mr. Kai is planning to finish one M5 so those parts will be used for that Zero. He keeps panels but those characters have almost faded away."

References
Thanks to Jim Lansdale, David Aiken, Allan Gaynor, Ryan Towes, Yohji Sakaida and Ed Maloney for additional information.
Gakken No. 33 confirms 5451 was Houkoku 1053.
Yokoi Houkoku List

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