A6M5 on display at the Yushukan at Yasukuni Shrine. This Zero was recovered from Rabaul in 1974. It was made by Mistubishi in Nagoya and carries its spinner. The wings and fuselage are from S/No. 4240, and other parts are from No. 4241. It wears the code of the 281st Kokutai, formed at Maizuru on 20 Feb 1943 with 48 Zero fighters. The unit was sent to Paramushir in the Kurile Islands in 1943. It was transferred to Roi Is. in Dec. 1943 where it was decimated, all personnel being killed as naval infantry.

Preserved at the entrance to the Shrine is this restored Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero Sen Model 52.

Photo taken by my son in 2010.

The Yushukan war museum, next to the controversial Yasukuni shrine, paints an strange picture of Japan's role in World War II. This Zero was built in Nagoya in late 1943. It served in Rabaul where it was abandoned in 1945.