- EAA Museum Nakajima Ki-43IIb
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- The Nakajima Ki-43IIb that
is presently part of the collection of the Experimental Aircraft Association
Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was originally captured at Hollandia, New
Guinea. Four units equipped with Ki-43s (33rd, 63rd, 77th, and 248th Sentai)
were present at Hollandia when American forces landed there in April of
1944. The EAA plane was painted in the livery of the second of these units
when it was refurbished by the Wisconsin Air National Guard.
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- There are several problems
in establishing the provenance of this aircraft. It has been painted with
the serial number 6430, but according to Jim Long this number was assigned
by the Intelligence unit that examined the plane at Wright-Patterson, and is
not the original serial number. The serial
number 5894 can be found painted on the back of the seat and if this seat is
part of the original equipment of the plane 5894 should be taken as its
correct serial number. However, this plane has been described as being one
of two Ki-43s that were rebuilt by American ground crews from the remains of
several abandoned Hayabusas. The seat therefore could very likely have come
from another aircraft.
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- Furthermore, it has been
stated that only Tachikawa manufactured the Ki-43IIb. Tachikawa Ki-43 serial
numbers began with s/n 15000 as a base number, seemingly ruling out the
validity of both of the above serial numbers. Presently then the exact
identification of the EAA Ki-43 remains
a mystery.
Check out Ryan's Photos
on the links below.
Forward
Fuselage
Rear
Fuselage
Wings
Landing
Gear
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