JAAF
68th Sentani
or 78th Sentai
David Pennefather 1972
Rod Pearce 2005
Aircraft History
Built by Kawasaki, with "Kou" armament of 2 x 12.7mm wing; 2 x 7.7mm nose.
Wartime History
Ditched 30m off the coast, at Dreggerhaffen, near Finschafen.
Wreckage
Completely intact when discovered, only missing the propeller. Since its discovery, the instruments, canopy and armament have been removed.
Rod Pearce adds:
"In 1972, a friend told me he found a 'zero' off a wharf at Dreggerhafen. It was not a Zero, instead a Tony. I suspect it was the same aircraft. This particular aircraft was found by my brother and myself after beenig told by a friend of strange aircraft in 20 meters of water in Dreggerhafen. When we found it, the fighter was perfectly intact. When we found it there was damage to the leading edge inboard of the port wing. It also had a radio and could have been a flight leader. The propeller is missing and having searched in a area around the aircraft no trace can be found. We brought all the guns out of it: two 12.7mm in the wings, and two 7.7mm in the nose. Over the years it has been stripped by divers. Most of the aircraft is complete but recently the starboard wing was ripped off by a charter vessel but when found it was complete. We will explore all avenues in Japan and see if any trace can be found of the pilot and what happened to the aircraft. No I.D. can be found on the aircraft. The black and white picture was taken by Dave Pennyfather about a week after we found it and the color ones were taken in May of 2005. This aircraft is not dived much as not many people know of its location. This was my first major find as a wreck diver and is still the find I treasure most."
Ki-61
20m
