{"id":1375,"date":"2016-01-27T18:15:20","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T00:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/?p=1375"},"modified":"2016-01-29T01:25:18","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T07:25:18","slug":"restored-zero-fighter-flies-over-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/27\/restored-zero-fighter-flies-over-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Restored Zero fighter flies over Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/zero2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/zero2.jpg\" alt=\"zero2\" width=\"512\" height=\"290\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1408\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/zero2.jpg 512w, http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/zero2-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of Mitsubishi\u2019s legendary World War II fighter planes took to the skies over Japan on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The restored Zero fighter made a brief flight to and from a naval base in southern Japan. Decorated former U.S. Air Force pilot Skip Holm flew the aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>Zero fighters were considered one of the most capable fighter planes in World War II, rivaling the British Spitfire. Their long range allowed them to play a prominent role in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Only a few are still in operating condition.<\/p>\n<p>While rented Zeroes have flown in Japan on occasion in the past, this was the first for the widely used Model 22 of Mitsubishi\u2019s A6M fighter with its round wingtips.<\/p>\n<p>This particular plane was found decaying in Papua New Guinea in the 1970s. It was owned by an American until Japanese businessman Masahiro Ishizuka purchased it and brought it to Japan last September.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted for the people of Japan and especially young people to know about this Zero airplane, as well as those who are old who remember the past,\u201d Ishizuka said. \u201cEach of them should have different thoughts and perspectives on this, but I just want people to know how Japan has developed its technology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Japanese see the aircraft both as a symbol of their country\u2019s technological advance and a reminder of the harrowing history of the war. In the last phase of the fighting, they were used for \u201ckamikaze\u201d attacks.<\/p>\n<p>Kamikaze pilots took off from the same airfield as Wednesday\u2019s flight, Kanoya Naval Air Base on the island of Kyushu.<\/p>\n<p>Under its previous American owner, the plane made an appearance in the Hollywood movie \u201cPearl Harbor\u201d and at various events in the United States. <\/p>\n<p>Photo: AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of Mitsubishi\u2019s legendary World War II fighter planes took to the skies over Japan on Wednesday. The restored Zero fighter made a brief flight to and from a naval base in southern Japan. Decorated former U.S. Air Force pilot Skip Holm flew the aircraft. Zero fighters were considered one of the most capable fighter [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1375"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1409,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375\/revisions\/1409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}