wesf@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Wes From) (08/21/90)
From: wesf@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Wes From)
I've noticed some mention of the Confederate Air Force Zero, and
some speculation on whether or not it was a real Zero or not. Well,
a few years back, the National Film Board of Canada produced a
documentary on the restoration of this particular airplane. At the
time (and maybe still today) it was the only functional and flyable
authentic Zero still existing.
The fellow who did the restoration (I forget his name) lives in
Carmen, Manitoba (Canada) and has done several other restorations.
I've visited the site while the Zero was being restored. It's a
Mom and Pop operation (literally) with a small hangar (the doors
had to be notched to accomodate the Zero). The premises are piled
high with old plane parts and fuselages. He has a wind tunnel
constructed of sheets of plywood, and airplane engine and propeller,
and a bathroom scale to measure lift. He also has an old pickup
truck with similar "instumention". He designed a tank-buster
airplane that he wanted to sell to the Canadian military, but the
prototype refused to fly. In spite of all that, he was quite
adept at restorations.
The Confederate Air Force contracted him (with considerable up-
front money) to restore a Zero, which he claimed he could do.
He retrieved some Zero remains through a contact in the South
Pacific and transported them home by freighter. In addition,
he found the designer of the Zero still living in Japan (this was
the early eighties) and managed to get an original set of blueprints.
A lot of the aircraft had to be reconstructed from scratch, and
instead of the original two years, the project took over five (?).
The Canadian government wouldn't give him an airworthiness
certificate, so he then had to disassemble it and transport it to
the U.S. on a flatbed trailer. Upon reassembly, water was discovered
in the engine. Since this was right before a CAF show, a very quick
strip-down of the engine and reassembly took place. They managed
to get the plane in the air (some time later) with the only
malfunction being that part of the landing gear wouldn't retract.
Wes Fromadrian@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk (Adrian Hurt) (08/24/90)
From: Adrian Hurt <adrian@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk> In article <1990Aug21.024408.474@cbnews.att.com> wesf@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Wes From) writes: > >I've noticed some mention of the Confederate Air Force Zero, and >some speculation on whether or not it was a real Zero or not. Well, >a few years back, the National Film Board of Canada produced a >documentary on the restoration of this particular airplane. At the >time (and maybe still today) it was the only functional and flyable >authentic Zero still existing. According to a TV programme here ("Equinox" on our Channel 4 - I believe it is called something else in the USA, maybe "Nova") the man responsible is called Diemart - Bob Diemart, if I remember correctly. He had a few problems. For one thing, it wasn't until after he had finished rebuilding it that he realised its wingspan was too large for it to fit through the door of his hangar - and the Zero was in the hangar at the time! Second, he couldn't get a certificate of airworthiness. He had had trouble with the authorities before, because he was also trying to design his own aircraft. One was refused a certificate because the pilot couldn't carry a parachute. Diemart said, of course he can't carry a parachute - the way the plane is built, he wouldn't be able to bail out anyway. The Zero was taken to the CAF by truck. "Keyboard? How quaint!" - M. Scott Adrian Hurt | JANET: adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian | ARPA: adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk