[Photo] A6M2 Zero fighter being tested by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration, post-WW2

Caption

A6M2 Zero fighter being tested by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration, post-WW2

Source

United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration

More on...

A6M Zero

Added By

This photograph has been scaled down; full resolution photograph is available here (3,000 by 1,824 pixels).

Share this photograph with your friends:
	Facebook	Reddit
	Twitter	Digg
	StumbleUpon	Delicious
Stay updated with WW2DB:
	RSS Feeds

Advertisement Close

Visitor Submitted Comments

Anonymous says:
13 Feb 2009 04:42:23 PM

this was Petty Officer Koga's zero being tested by the U.S. Navy until Feb. 1945, when this aircraft was lost in a taxi accident with a curtiss helldiver, the helldiver's prop cut the zero from tail to the cockpit, the pilot survived, the zero was beyond salvage. you would think, that such a war prize would have a follow me jeep in front and also following behind, to warn other aircraft.
Bill says:
17 May 2011 05:56:29 PM

Continued from my comment dated feb 2009

What a loss to aviation history it would have been something to see Koga's A6M2 Zero
today at the National Air & Space Museum, Washington, D.C.

By December 7, 1941 the Imperial Japanese Navy had 420 Zero's on strength. Koga's Zero was discovered after Koga tried to make an emergency landing on Akutan Island in the
Aleutians, after taking part in a raid on
Dutch Harbor in 1942.
One bullet hit his oil line Koga attempted to
land, the Zero hit soft ground flipped over Koga died of head injuries.
Discovered by the US Navy, salvaged and test flown during the war much was learned about the Zero, and how to combat it.

SUGGESTED READING:

KOGA'S ZERO
THE FIGHTER THAT CHANGED WWII
By Jim Reardon
Pictorial Histories Publishing Co.
ISBN 10: 0929521560
ISBN 13: 9780929521565
Bill says:
22 Oct 2011 06:49:49 PM

Photo taken at NACA Langley flight-line
March 8, 1943. Wing tip boom on right wing, was for tests at NAS Anacostia.

NACA Stands for National Advisory Committee
for Aeronautics.