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Recently ran into this footage of Steve Hinton showing the 'pit of an A6M5, at the time the only flying example remaining with an original Nakajima Sakae 14 cylinder, 2-row air-cooled radial.

Cockpit tour;
http://youtu.be/R6W9MBK1gJI

HD startup, for the sound lovers;
http://youtu.be/fP06TtrzmA8

Taxi, and flypast;
http://youtu.be/ZuoVlQOO4xc

I love all these warbirds - putting aside their use in regards to politics - they all have one thing in common; they fly.

What strikes me about this aircraft, is it's simplicity - details like a striker-pad to close the clam-shell like door covering the wheel-well, hand-cranked oil-cooler shutter and cowl-flaps. Also note this aircraft has landing gear indicators very similar to that of the Spitfire.

Just felt like sharing this, I never bore of listening to warbird engines, nor of sitting in a 'pit and soaking up the ambience.

Enjoy,

John.

- edit - I've included up-top another recording someone made of it flying overhead, beautiful sound.

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~ Make love to the sky, don't shag it.

The A6M in this Video is owned by the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino California, it still runs the original engine and even the propeller is original.
Chino flies it at most every aurshow it puts on.

Interesting note:....The A6M Zero fighter, is a Grumman aircraft design......When the U.S.Military turned down the plane, Grumman aviation, sold the plans to the Japanesse.....At this time, their were no orders to destroy turned down aircraft or plans....
This all changed with the Capture of this aircraft A6M5 Zero....
Included documentation on this A6M....Is a letter from Charles Lindberg, who had test flew the plane....

Here is more information from Chino's web site.....





Home Base: Chino, CA
Operation: Western USA
Model: A6M5
Wing Span: 39' 4"
Length: 29' 9"
Height: 10' 0"
Max Speed: 388 mph
Gross Weight: 6,047 lbs
Power Plant: Nakajima Sakae 31
Horsepower: 1,200
Fuel Capacity: N/A
Armament: 2 × 7.7 mm machine guns in the engine cowling, 2 × 20 mm cannons in the wings. 2 × 66 lb and 1 x 132 lb bombs or 2 × fixed 550 lb bombs for kamikaze attacks.

POF's Mitsubishi A6M5 Zeke "Zero"



The Planes of Fame Air Museum is the owner and operator of this extremely rare and authentic Mitsubishi A6M5 Zeke "Zero" which is on display in Chino, CA. and is only available for film or specially arranged events.

Although there are about ten complete World War Two Japanese Mitsubishi Zero fighters still intact around the world, two of them airworthy, The Air Museum at Chino Airport in Southern California boasts that Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero No 61-120 in its "Planes of Fame" collection is the only fully authentic flyable example in the world. Restored to flying condition in June 1978, this Zero fighter is still powered by its original Nakajima Sakae 31 engine, a 14-cylinder radial that produces 1,200 h.p. Except for the absence of armament and a few minor equipment changes, this aircraft is essentially the same as it was when operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the war; it even carries the same colour scheme (right down to the precise shade of green camouflage which varied in tone from factory to factory in Japan) and markings that it bore in combat.

Between March 1939 and August 1945, a grand total of 10,936 Zero fighters was produced in Japan, with 6,215 examples of the Mitsubishi design actually being produced under license by Nakajima. Completed in May 1943, Zero No 61-120 was the 2,357th aircraft of its type to come off the Nakajima production line and was first assigned to the 261st Japanese Naval Air Corps (JNAC) under the command of LtCdr Takatora Ueda on the Japanese home island of Honshu. Within a few months the unit moved to Iwo Jima Island for air defense duties and, in March 1944, was reassigned to the air defense of the islands of Saipan, Tinian, Rota and Palau.

Under the command of Capt Ibusuki, Zero No 61-120 and the 261st JNAC operated from Asilito Airfield on Saipan until the island was invaded by US Marines.

Under air cover from the US Navy's Task Force 58, Marines swarmed ashore on Saipan on June 15, 1944 and Asilito Airfield, with a number of intact Zero fighters, was overrun on June 18. On July 12, a dozen intact Zeros, together with a supply of spare engines and miscellaneous equipment, were loaded abroad the escort carrier USS Copahee (CVE-12) and shipped to the USA for evaluation. All of the captured equipment was offloaded at NAS North Island, San Diego, California and four of the Zeros were put back into flying condition, with two being turned over to the Army Air Force and two being retained by the Navy.

No 61-120 was ferried to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland on August 23, 1944 and subsequently flown by about 25 different USN, USMC, Royal Navy and civilian fighter and test pilots, including Charles A. Lindbergh. The aircraft was ferried back to San Diego on January 11, 1945, where frontline combat pilots were also given a chance to check out the Zero. Altogether, Zero No 61-120 logged over 190hr of flight time in the USA before being declared surplus after the war.

Originally intended to become a gate guardian at an American military airfield, No 61-120 actually wound up being sold for scrap. It was obtained by Mr. Ed Maloney and kept in storage in his backyard pending eventual display in his proposed museum.

In 1958, Maloney opened the Air Museum in Claremont, California with the Zero as one of the static exhibits. The aircraft stayed on display in Maloney's collection when it moved to the Ontario International Airport, California, then to Buena Park in the same state (where the collection picked up the "Planes of Fame" name) and finally to Chino Airport, where it is based today.

Embarking on what many called an impossible task, the museum staff began the process of restoring Zero No 61-120 to flying condition in 1973. After 4½yr of intensive work, the aircraft took to the air once again on June 28, 1978 under the civilian registration number NX46770. After a successful flight-test program the Zero was shipped to Japan for a six-month tour, during which a number of demonstration flights were made over its original homeland.

Zero No 61-120 is now one of the star attractions in the The Planes of Fame Air Museum collection. Not surprisingly, in light of the scarcity of spare parts, the aircraft is flown judiciously and generally only in the Chino area. However, it does put on rousing demonstrations every year during the annual The Planes of Fame Air Museum Air Display which takes place in mid-May, and it is sometimes flown for other special occasions, It even spent a few hours in mock combat against the museum's Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat for the benefit of a Grumman Aircraft Co camera crew who produced a film for the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

Here is a copy of test with the names of the pilots who tested the plane

How do you source this? I have found no indication that the Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a Grumman design; to the contrary, it is claimed that the Japanese used the prototype Vought V-143 for some engineering aspects of the Zero, when it was new. The Vought V-143 was a prototype sold to the Japanese government in 1937, however, it wound up being inferior to Japense fighters of the time, so it is disputed where the design came from, but it wasn't Grumman. Not to insult by asking your source, you have the burden of proof, and I was curious, and found to possibly dispove.

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© 2011 Peter J. Carlson, All Rights Reserved
"O! for a horse with wings!" -William Shakespeare

Yes, I dont think this is all that true either. There were certain things similar to a vought design but nothing was ever proven and the changes where to large to make any real connection.

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"It has been claimed that the Zero's design showed clear influence from American fighter planes and components exported to Japan in the 1930s, and in particular the Vought V-143 fighter. Chance Vought had sold the prototype for this aircraft and its plans to Japan in 1937. Eugene Wilson, President of Vought, claimed that when shown a captured Zero in 1943, he found that "There on the floor was the Vought V 142 [sic] or just the spitting image of it, Japanese-made," while the "power-plant installation was distinctly Chance Vought, the wheel stowage into the wing roots came from Northrop, and the Japanese designers had even copied the Navy inspection stamp from Pratt & Whitney type parts."[8] While the sale of the V-143 was fully legal,[8][9] Wilson later acknowledged[8] the conflicts of interest that can arise whenever military technology is exported. In fact, there was no significant relationship between the V-143 (which was an unsuccessful design that had been rejected by the US Army Air Corps and several export customers) and the Zero, with only a superficial similarity in layout. Allegations about the Zero being a copy have been mostly discredited.[9][10]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_A6M_Zero