Akutan Zero

Funny, seeing a real Zero with stars and bars looks a TON stranger than the 'Zeros' (the modified T-6's that look like Zeros) the Commemorative Air Force uses for their 'Tora Tora Tora' show.  We have several of these birds hangered at the air field local to us.  So small formations of Zeros heading to, or returning from a show is a pretty common sight around here.  I think there's at least one that's a real Zero, but am not 100% certain.

Gene Beaird,

Pearland, Texas

Actually PO Koga's Zero was not the first to be captured by the US; it was the first to be brought back to the lower 48 states.  The Flying Tigers with the help of Gerhard Neumann had a flying Zero before Lt. Howard Thies, USN, spotted the Zero in his PBY in July 1942.  Neumann's Zero arrived after Koga's had been repaired and flown.  Pampa's photos show several different captured Zeros, not just Koga's.