Mitsubishi A6M Zero

Chris Hamilton · Issue 62, Sep/Oct 2011 · pp. 39–42

Products mentioned: Nikon D200, Subal housing, Tokina 10-17mm, Ikelite DS125, Ikelite DS160

On Boxing Day in 1943 a lone Japanese pilot in a Mitsubishi A6M Zero made an emergency landing off the jungles of Papua New Guinea that almost 70 later has become one of the most unspoiled and intact aviation wrecks in Asia Pacific. The fate of pilot Tomiharu Honda has never been determined. He may have lived to old age as an adopted villager, or wasted away in wretched solitude and starvation in the mountains. He may have met his end as a ceremonial feast for a head hunting tribe. All that can be known with certainty is that he never again saw Japan, and the craft he left behind has become one of the best-preserved and most fascinating wrecks to dive in Asia Pacific. The rusted old Zero body is also a testament to his aeronautic skills; few pilots could have made an emergency landing that resulted in so little damage to the plane. It seems most likely that the crash was due to fuel shor…