70-year-old photo features Japanese Zero

Tracing the history of the FHC’s aircraft is always interesting. This photo came from the stacks at the U.S. National Archives. It shows one of the FHC’s Zero aircraft, tail number 61-121, on the deck of the escort carrier USS Copahee — a warship built in Tacoma, Washington. The plane was part of a deck load of Japanese aircraft acquired on the island of Saipan and shipped back the United States for evaluation in July of 1944.

You can come and see the remains of this Zero, one the three of the rare Japanese fighters on display, as part of the Zero Rising exhibit at the FHC until December of 2014.