A6M2 Zero Piloted by Yamaguchi Tail Hook Dataplate
The crease down the middle is natural, the plate was folded
in half to fit against the structure of the hook.
Part Number: 101
Built: September
11, 1941
Jim Long adds:
"The number 101 from the tail hook may be an uncoded number, that happened, especially with sub-contractors. If it were uncoded, it would mean that the sub-contractor had assembled one hundred and one tail hooks by 11 September 1941 for the Mitsubishi Company. One would expect that the tail wheel (27 Sep '41) and the tail hook (11 Sep '41) would have been built days, perhaps weeks, before they wound up on this airplane. Therefore one can estimate that the airplane was completed during October 1941--November, at the latest. But my guess would be October. It is natural for the tail hook to have an earlier date than the tail wheel because the tail wheel was made in-house at the Nagoya factory, whereas the tail hook was made at a sub-contractor's factory and had to be transported to the Mitsubishi assembly plant, maybe even stored for a while, somewhere along the supply line."
Credit: Justin Taylan Date: 2003
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