Sunday, March 28, 2010

Wellington Aero Club Open Day 2010 #11: Mitsubishi Zero!!!!

Well, it would hardly be an open day without a couple of surprises, and WOW! What a surprise we got!

No one was expecting this, yet in the middle of the day we all got a big surprise when a Pacific Aerospace 750XL, ZK-XLE did an approach and overshoot. Yeah OK, unexpected and a nice surprise, but not quite earth-shattering. What followed a few seconds later however, was a HUGE surprise! An extremely rare Mitsubishi A6M Zero came screaming down the runway! What a highlight!

The Zero was one of the most feared Japanese aircraft in World War 2. It was generally acknowledged as the best carrier fighter in the Pacific Theatre at the start of those hostilities.

This aircraft, registration N712Z [NX712Z on the fuselage], was shipped over in a container for the Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow this coming Easter weekend. There was no hint given of this fly-by, and the publicly reported plans [click here] does not even mention Wellington.

The 750XL? It's a support aircraft accompanying the Zero on it's travels.

Awesome!!! Enjoy the pictures!

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