Its is built from a salvaged airframe.  Supposedly it saw battle,  Or some of the parts have.  


Salvaged from New Guinea.

Does it have a Nakajima Sakae radial?

Cool.

This just left the shop today.

It was restored with a PW 1830-75.  It also included an original Nakajima Sakae in the purchase.

Well if the IRS ever tries to shaft him, that sure beats a kill dozer.

Sweet!

Considering there are only two in flying condition, probably a good amount…

The last pricing I could find was 3.3 million.  Now If you know warbird owners... There is a lot of horse trading of parts sometimes.


Ever seen what a hungry F4 Corsair will do to a Zero?  
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Ok, I take it back then.  Sound like a cool dude to know with some bad ass toyz

Maybe so.  I've visited his car site before.  Very interesting cars.

The P40's and the P-51's in that list...  The 's there is,  Yes!  Multiples!  And flying too.  

Oh and the B-25.

Hope he doesn't fly it over an old vets assisted living home. Heart attacks and ack ack.

No but a free tru coat.  

Holy hell that's cool

As much as I can bitch about the rich for this or that, I’m glad we have people that have enough money to keep some cool old things like this flying or running in antique auto or militaria stuff.

He does some amazing shit for vets!  


He hosts vets all the time.  I had the opportunity to see everything at Rons business brought to a halt to find a way to put a ww2 P-38 pilot in a wheel chair in the cockpit of a P-38 again.

While they distracted the vet a stair case and a lift was devised to get him in there.  


That gentleman spent hours in the cockpit telling stories and beaming.  When they took him out of the plane they rolled him out in front of another hangar and gave him an airshow with the P-38!  

When the P-38 landed and parked,  he was asked what he thought of that.  The vet replied... That was the best birthday I have had in my life!  It was his birthday and his family brought him to see the warbirds and he got a VIP welcome.

I do some work for Mitsubishi.

Awesome for OP's friend but after knowing how badly the Japs were throwing those planes together, I'm not sure I'd want to fly one. Any airforce who purposefully uses "pilots" as guided smart bombs, probably isn't putting a lot of thought into the reliability and longevity of their aircraft.

Another interesting observation (and absolutely no offence intended to OP or his friend) is that ownership of a Zero is pretty much universally met with interest and admiration. But ownership of a swastika flag(etc)always brings questions of mental stability (or similar) of said owner.

I live near WPAFB museum and have been up close many times to WW2 aircraft. I'm surprised they didn't have to make special seats in those to accommodate the balls of the men who climbed in and flew them (ours and theirs).

Legendary WWII fighter aircraft – Original, salvaged airframe recovered from New Guinea – Detailed logbook listing all work and certifications – Original Nakajima Sakae engine available – Movie Star with combat history – Located in CA, USA HISTORY & BACKGROUND Mitsubishi was first established in 1870 and grew to be a major industrial giant in Japan, involved in shipping, heavy industry and aviation. This iconic Japanese manufacturer built the legendary A6M Zeke “Zero” fighter during World War II. The aircraft was original and unique in both its brilliant design and labor-intensive construction.

The hulk of this plane was found at Babo Airfield on Irian Jaya in what is now the Indonesian half of New Guinea. Through 1943 and the first half of 1944, the area had been exposed to many American bomber attacks and this plane was one of the unlucky aircraft that had been damaged by bombs. Not only the area seen violent attacks, but also it was later bypassed by the Allies, leaving many remarkably intact wrecks and abandoned Japanese airplanes. Babo was considered an almost mythical place in the eyes of aircraft salvagers by the 1970s and 1980s. A California aircraft salvager named Bruce Fenstermaker made a deal with local officials to obtain aircraft relics from the airfield in the early 1990s. Fenstermaker’s early actions in the area focused on an abandoned A6M3-22 Zero, which would become known as serial number 3869. After location and sale to the Santa Monica Museum of Flying (MOF), Fenstermaker and the MOF almost immediately agreed to participate in a joint venture to acquire more aircraft from the site before Indonesia withdrew permission, or other salvagers were able to mount efforts of their own. By 1991, the group had acquired two other Zeros and other airplanes. Efforts to get the three Zeros took “close to six years, covered two continents, and consumed in excess of 300,000 man-hours before all were actually restored to flying condition”, according to Bruce Lockwood, then MOF Director of Restoration. The three Zeros hulks, in varying degrees of disrepair, arrived in California in June 1991. After research, the planes were assigned serial numbers 3869, 3858 and 3852. All were in very bad condition – with bomb damage, bullet holes, and years of corrosion from being exposed to the elements. The sheer volume of work finally led the MOF to make a deal with Flight Magic Inc. of Santa Monica to continue the restorations more efficiently. This group had ties with an organization in Russia that had produced replica Yakovlev Yak-3 fighters powered with American Allison engines. The trio of Japanese fighters was transferred to Russia for completion in 1994. At almost the same time, the MOF unearthed a nearly complete set of Zero plans, which made a full restoration a much easier proposition. Original parts of each aircraft were used in the restorations, but since the planes were going to be flyable, “it would be mandatory that new materials and parts would have to be used in any area required to carry a structural load”, explained Lockwood. The rebuilt Zeros were sent back to California in 1997. American engines were judged much easier and cheaper to maintain than original Japanese Sakae powerplants, so each plane received a specially made Pratt & Whitney R-1830-75 power section, an R-1830-90 blower section, and an R-1830-94 accessory section – all mated together to work as a single unit. The first of the aircraft, SN 3869, flew in California in 1998. Marked as X-133, it is presently registered as N712Z and belongs to the American Airpower Heritage Flying Museum in Dallas TX, USA. Currently the aircraft is based at Southern California Wing in Camarillo CA, USA. This particular aircraft, SN 3858, was the second which flew (2000). The Zero departed for its ferry flight in March and has been delivered to NAS North Island CA, USA, for shipping to Honolulu, Hawaii, for the filming of the motion picture Pearl Harbor, which was released the following year. SN 3852 was the last of the three Zeros to be completed and has been purchased by the Flying Heritage Museum (today FHCAM, collection of the late Paul G. Allen). The aircraft made its maiden flight in 2012 and is currently registered as N3852. SPECIFICATIONS SUBJECT TO VERIFICATION UPON INSPECTION Specifications and/or descriptions are provided as introductory information only and do not constitute representations or warranties. Verification of specifications remain the sole responsibility of purchaser. Aircraft is subject to prior sale, lease, and/or removal from the market without prior notice.
Airframe
Airframe Notes
Original, salvaged airframe
Engine
Engine Notes
Pratt & Whitney R-1830-75 200 hours SMOH
Props
Prop Notes
Hamilton Standard 33D50 70 hours TSOH

https://www.aircraft.com/aircraft/28644929/n553tt-1942-mitsubishi-a6m3-zero

Back in the mid 80's I went to a Confederate Air Force show down around McAllen TX.  There was a real Zero there, it had an 1830 engine and a solid rubber rear tire.  There was an actual WWII Zero pilot there, I knew him from Houston where he sold his book "Bye Bye Black Sheep".  

The plane flew beautifully, the WWII pilot didn't fly it, but knew a lot about it.

I'd love to fly a Zero.

The plane is far from what came out of the Japanese factory in 1942.  



The rest is just silly



And considering the man owns a private ww2 museum that does a shit ton for charities and vets... I think owning things with meatballs,  Swastikas and other such things would be a common thing.


As for the pilots needing big accommodations for their large balls...      

Ron sounds cool

Ron,  his wife and his son are good people.  

Good for him.

Tora Tora?

nope

Last I heard, there was only one.  All the other flying real Zeroes were rocking DC-3 engines and props.

Jeeze, how many are there?    Can’t me many.     Didja Tell him to be careful?

Pilot should have been a little lower.

Look back through the archives……OP always has the best threads

And I was impressed a couple years ago when a good friend of mine bought s Stinson L-5 Sentinel.

Very cool.

I was in a valley with the car.  He couldn't physically be any lower.  The telephoto does a good job of compressing the image and making him look low enough.

I think there are 3 flyable.

That's a pretty bird.  

Beee-U-T-full warbird! That is just awesome on a whole new level.

My favorite of all time is the F4U Corsair but I love them all.  Mustangs and Spitfires are sexy but there's not a warbird ever built as sexy as a Corsair.

Perfect prank to play on him while he’s flying………get on the radio and say “Alert One this is Eagle One, you are clear to fire……… splash the Zero”

Damn, my friends suck.  I need new friends I think.  One just got a new tractor and I thought that was cool.

Right click saved,

Fiberglass or aluminum gun pods on the fuselage?

Yes, I watch the Kermit Weeks YouTube channel.

Pass the cheese sauce friend…….

I seem to recall them being Aluminum.  Ron is a stickler for details.  

I have pictures of stuff on his p-38 that most people wouldn't even notice,  save for people that are very knowlegable about the aircraft.  Ron has asked that I not put them on the net due to the fact that he is still in the process of making or procuring these little detail parts,  such as the guns and the systems for them.  


Ron has actually gone through the hoops to install and fire the guns in one of his P-51's


Here is a neat little piece of history hanging around his shop.

I’m too blue collar for that.

But I’ll at least stop and recognize that your friend has good taste and is probably fun to hang out with. Very, very nice!

All the pics...wow.

That LAST pic...dude.  Stunning.  Good for you, OP.  And that Zero...I think I need a better class of friends.

A friend owns and flies a Fairey Firefly. 12 or so years ago, it cost him about $4500/hr to operate it.

God only knows what it costs for that Zero.

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That is a cool plane.  I wouldn't mind seeing one fly.

This thread and these posts are bad ass. It's nice to see someone with the means preserving these important pieces of history.

Well that helped clear the sinuses.

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