I recall that the Zero that was lashed to the after deck hatch of M/V Enna G. in 1980 had been brought from the island of Laura in the Marshalls. I had been told that at the end of the war the Japanese mechanics went to the planes one by one and dropped the engines onto the ground while doing nothing to the aircraft themselves. I know this happened in Yap, where a friend of
mine took pics of planes on the airfield there in that state. The guy that took the Zero from Laura to Saipan via the Enna G had scrounged parts off of other planes to make this one more or less complete. There was supposed to be some sort of air museum in the making there at that time, and he was taking it there.

That Zero I saw was complete and looked like it could fly right now. It was in jungle green, mottle camoflage. I distinctly remember the long tom 20mm wing canon, that the airframe was complete, the cockpit glass was complete and in place, the cockpit framework was not bent or broken. I stood about 20 feet from it, behind a glass door, since it was raining that day, and I was on board to get a decent meal . We all went on board any ship we could that came into port to eat a wonderful meal and have a drink. It was cheap and delicious. The plane looked looked flyable right now. Prop in place, cowling all there. That's why he took it to Saipan, there was to be or starting up a museum and the plane was supposed to go there. I have no idea where it ended up, but Enna G as I recall did not go to Saipan. I think she turned in Guam and went down to NZ or Australia.

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