IJN
via Ron Werneth 1998
Buffy's Best 2005
Aircraft
History
Built by Mitsubish, estimated date of assembly November 1942. Had the tail markings S-112 overpainted with Y2-128.
Wartime History
Abandoned at Taroa
Airfied.
Recovery
Recovered by John
Sterling, in the 1990s. After a year of negotiation,
including sleeping in the jungle for nearly 3 months to perform the recovery
of this and other Zeros: A6M3 3685, A6M3
3148 and A6M2 31574 that were disassembled,
crated and shipped back to his home in Boise, Idaho in May 1991. He
focused his efforts on restoring A6M3 3318 and using parts from the others
to support this single restoration.
Sale
Owned by the Evergreen Air Museum in Oregon. Currently under restoration
by Vintage Aircraft Ltd in
Colorado. Vintage Aircraft has undertaken a complete new restoration
effort that utilizes the original A6M3 model 32 s/n 3318 pieces rather
than incorporate the previous Sterling work. Vintage Aircaft is manufacturing
new components when required from original Mitsubishi A6M3 specs to
facilitate an airworthy restoration, which will include a genuine Sakae
engine. Special care is being taken to research the paint colors and
aircraft markings. When complete, this restoration will result in one
of the most authentic Zero aircraft yet seen.
Derek of "Buffy's Best" adds:
"It is actually the heat treated (unpainted
at this point) aluminum you are seeing. When it is ready for paint
they will use the Mitsubishi interior color. They are really going
the extra mile on this restoration. They are even having an entire
new set of cockpit and misc data plates made in Japan, that match the
Japanese characters that Mitsubishi used in the early 40's! They are
also using original instruments, and when not possible to obtain, have
made incredible facsimiles of the instrument fronts to use with the
appropriate size American instruments. You'd never know from the outside
that these were not Japanese instruments. Amazing level of detail."
References
Thanks to Ryan Toews and Derek "Buffy's Best" for additional
information. FlyPast January 1998 article by Ron Werneth, and "The
Return of Japan's Legendary Zero Fighter" in FlyPast.
Asahi Journal Vol 1 No 2 has an interview with John Sterling.
Zero
