"Zero"
Warbird Research
"Zero" Warbird Research
In search of the last japanese fighters
On one of my journeys to a pacific island I made
some interesting experiences:
together with a friend of mine I travelled to an
island in the pacific area. Impressed by the beautiful nature
and the hospitality of the native people, who are not used to
see european visitors often, we started our discovery tour.
By coincidence, I found a very old, rusted anti-aircraft shell
in the frontyard of the villa where I spent my vacation. I went
curious and asked some questions.
As a reply I got some interesting information about what happened
there during WW II.
The Americans operated an airbase in this area. Residents of the
nearby villages were blindfolded and led to work there. They saw
a large airfield with numerous fighter planes and bombers. There
was a big hangar in the hills with hydraulic gates and parking
space for up to four or five planes. One of the residents and
former working staff told me that his and his friends` duty was
to refuel and clean the planes. Sometimes they were allowed to
watch a movie in the hangar cinema. They hadn´t seen anything
like that before.
Then, as the Japanese came, there were heavy fights and the Americans
tried to defend themselves. But the japanese supremacy was too
strong so that the Americans had to retreat and give up their
base. That happened about the year 1941. About 1944 the Americans
came back and drove the Japanese away from this island. The Japanese
brought back their planes into the hangar in haste, closed the
gates and left.
On my question whether the entrances have ever been tried to be
reopened, I got the answer: in earlier times, the hangar was part
of a cultural monument for us, situated inside a cave with stalactites.
Then, as the Japanese came, one of their officers beheaded a "limestone
idol". Thereafter our holy place was desecrated. ( The officer
was found one week later, laying in the ditch without his head
). We haven´t set a foot in the cave since then, because
we believe that evil ghosts are living there.
Being curious again, we wanted to know more about the whole story.
After talking to other witnesses and inspecting photographic material,
we are sure that this story is true and has really happened. We
went to the hills to get an impression of the blocked hangar.
There we definitely were able to discover the entrance of the
cave, another blocked exit and even the large airfield. Because
of further research, we know that this was one of the biggest
airbases in the Pacific War. Due to the use of modern equipment
for location and position finding there is no question that there
are still at least four warbirds inside the hangar. The hangar
encloses an area of about one hectar ( approx. 2.5 acres ) and
probabely there is also military equipment and spare parts. Presumably
the planes are in relatively good condition, because of the local
environmental situation.
The writer of this report is now looking for partners, who are
willing to invest in the recovery project. They will, of course,
get a reasonable portion of the total output. We estimate the
costs for the recovery to be around 30.000 to 35.000 US$. Considering
the value of the total output, these costs appear to be low. Not
only the rare warbirds are valuable, also the media rights are
very lucrative.
The writer refers to his homepage: http://www.skw-58.de/zero.html
Those people who are interested in our project and potential investors
or sponsors
can write to: Mr. Klaus Dahl
Hoelderlinstrasse 5
27570 Bremerhaven
Germany
Or send an email to: Klaus-Dahl@web.de
Future partners will be able to "dive in"
the complete research and will be shown all previous investigations
including video and photographic material.
