Watch Japanese WWII Fighter A6M3 “Hamp” Made Its First Flight in Many Years Following Restoration

Military Aviation Museum / YouTube

First Flights After Decades on the Ground

After more than a decade of patient work, a rare Mitsubishi A6M3-32 fighter has taken to the air once again. The Seattle restoration shop Legend Flyers began the project thirteen years ago, and their efforts finally paid off. Mike Spalding, chief pilot for the Military Aircraft Museum in Virginia Beach, completed two successful test flights. The first lasted about an hour and the second stretched to an hour and a half. During these flights Spalding performed stall checks, basic maneuvers, and landing gear tests. Owner Bob Hammer described the aircraft’s performance as smooth and trouble free.

The Military Aircraft Museum has already agreed to purchase the airplane once the required twenty-five hours of test flying are complete. For the museum, the aircraft offers visitors a direct link to the air war over the Pacific.

Military Aviation Museum / YouTube

From Island Wreck to Flying Machine

The fighter’s story began during World War II. In 1943 Japanese forces abandoned it on a remote atoll in the Marshall Islands when they withdrew from the area. American troops bypassed the island, leaving the aircraft untouched for decades. In 1991 two men from Honolulu acquired the wreck in a trade for a Ford tractor. By then the airframe was riddled with bullet holes and shrapnel damage. The plane passed through several owners before reaching Legend Flyers, where Hammer became the fifth person to attempt its restoration—and the one to complete it.

Technical Details and Careful Choices

The A6M3 “Hamp” was an improved version of the earlier A6M2, introduced in 1942 with a stronger engine and other refinements. While the team originally hoped to use a Japanese Sakae radial engine, they chose a more practical Pratt & Whitney R1830-92, a type also used on Douglas DC-3 transports. Its three-blade propeller came from a DC-3, and the spinner was adapted from a Lockheed Super Constellation. More than two hundred original parts remain, including the main landing gear and many cockpit instruments. A carrier tailhook is installed but kept retracted, and a centerline fuel tank will be displayed only on the ground, preserving the aircraft’s historic character while ensuring safe operation today.

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