The FHC Mitsubishi A6M3-22 making its public debut at Paine Field on June 9, with Jason Muszala at the controls.

The Flying Heritage Collection (FHC) Mitsubishi A6M3 Model-22 Zero made its public debut at the FHC Flying Day held at Paine Field, near Seattle, USA, on June 9. The fighter, c/n 3852, was recovered from Babo Airfield, New Guinea, by Bruce Fenstermaker in 1991. No operational history survives for the aeroplane, which has been reconfigured into a “field modified” two-seater. It now wears the caramel-grey-green scheme of the 251st Kokutai, Imperial Japanese Navy, with “tiger-stripe”, field-applied dark camouflage over the factory paint finish.

In 1994 the fighter went to Russia, along with two other A6M3s, to be restored to flying condition. It spent a short time at Duxford during the spring of 1997 in a dismantled state, before being sent to the Fighter Rebuilders in Chino, California. While there it was brought up to US standards, including the fitting of a Pratt & Whitney R-1830. Final systems work on the A6M3 was completed at Century Aviation in Wenatchee, and the first post restoration flight was on March 29, with Fighter Rebuilders boss Steve Hinton at the controls.