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Aircraft History
Built by Nakajima in November 1942. Uncoded serial number 650.
Wartime History
Its initial wartime service
is unknown. Later, it was
dispatched to Truk, possibly
via an aircraft carrier sent to equip both the 1st and 11th Sentai before
their arrival in Rabaul. Likely it served in the Rabaul vicinity, and sometime in 1945 had a bad landing
which required an engine and propeller change. The aircraft was then carefully
hidden by the Japanese four miles from Vunakanau Airfield.
After
hostilities ended and Australians occupied Rabaul in September 1945, RAAF Squadron Leader Denys Hamilton and his personnel
heard rumors about this
aircraft,
and located it.
Crated and shipped to Australia
in December 1945 for the War Department where it remained in a dismantled
state at Richmond, New South Wales, until it was offered to the Australian
War Memorial (AWM) in Canberra and accepted on July 14, 1949.
Storage &
Restoration
Sold by the Australian
War Memorial to Col. Pays. Restoration work began on the
exterior during the late 1980s.
New Zealand
In 1994, it went to the Alpine Fighter Collection
for further restoration,
and
taxied
at the "Warbirds over Wanaka" airshow in 1996. In New Zealand it was registered as ZK-OSC.
Paul Allen Collection
In 1999, exported to the United States and sold to Paul
Allen / Flying Heritage Collection. On static display as part
of their collection since the spring of 2004.
References
Thanks to Jim Long for Ki-43 production data.
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