What’s in a nickname?

The Flying Heritage Collection has a total of three Mitsubishi A6M Zero aircraft. As a result, when the staff communicates, they have to find a quick way to tell one from another. I suggested A6M3-22 serial 3852, A6M-52 serial 4400, and so on, but for some reason it never seemed to catch on …

The operational plane was easy, it became the “Flying Zero” to all at the FHC. One of the two other planes was called the “Saipan Zero” or the “Atlanta Zero”—named after where it had been discovered and the place it sat for many years. Today, the plane is an incredibly striking, bleached and battered unrestored carcass. The name that stuck was “Ghost Zero.”

The third machine was called the “Truk Zero” or the “Seabee Zero,” named after the place it came from and the guys who had “liberated” it from the Pacific. The plane almost looks flyable, but it is not. It has been cleaned up to make an acceptable display but has never been fully restored. As a result, the name chosen for the plane is prefect for an object that looks alive, but is dead. The staff call it the “Zombie Zero.”

We recently decided that the Ghost and Zombie have to go back into storage to make room for the flying season. They will be off display in mid-May. So, drop by the FHC to have a look before they are gone.

Cory Graff is the military aviation curator for the Flying Heritage Collection.