 |
| Paul and Belle 2018 |
The impact of this experience was more than I could have predicted. I was actually shivering from emotion to see such a reality. I recognized it immediately not only by the Rising Sun but also by the umistakeable shape that I had learned very well from building the "stick and paper" model of it when I was but a little boy.
The Voice from the Kitchen was with me that day so that made it special. I knew that she had seen many of these in the skies of her homeland. She does not remember them with the same intensity that I do, and that no doubt seems strange. Don't let it get to you, after all, she is sooo much younger than I. That and the fact that she did not have the same cultural experience of the action that we did here in the USA. That is a whole "nuther" story.
This is a refurbished, salvaged, real survivor of the Second World War, Pacific Theatre. ONE of only TWO that remain flying. (reference) This fighter plane was the bane of the fighter pilots in their P-47 Thunderbolts, Corsairs and others whose names I can't remember. This fighter far outperformed anything that the US arsenal encountered in Europe. We children were in awe of this machine and that is why its hobbyist "flying models" were in such high demand. The kits of rubber band powered models were available at $0.10, $0.25, $0.50 and $1.00 sizes. Our family economic status dictated the $0.25 size.
The history of this machine is very interesting. At the height of their success, the Japanese had 11,000 of them. As it happened, it wasn't enough. USA intelligence found a performance weakness in the plane and adopted a dog-fight strategy (turn left and dive) that doomed the survival chances of the Zero.
I am glad that I saw one of the survivors in the air before my "Turn left and dive" moment.
