WWII Aircraft Recovered from Sea in Southwestern Japan

Izumi, Kagoshima Pref., May 27 (Jiji Press)--A World War II fighter aircraft of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Navy was recovered last month, 81 years after sinking into the ocean off Akune, Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

A Kagoshima nonprofit organization in charge of the project to salvage the Shiden Kai aircraft wreck is working to establish a facility for a permanent exhibit of the aircraft downed in the late stages of the war.

"We hope that (the aircraft) will give those who experienced the war and those who did not an opportunity to think about peace based on their own values," an official of the NPO said.

Developed as a state-of-the-art successor to the AM6 Zero fighter in the later stages of the war, the Shiden Kai boasted high combat power and maneuverability, equipped with four 20mm machine guns.

The Shiden Kai is described in the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force website as "the best fighter used in significant numbers" by Japan during the war and "a formidable opponent in the closing months of the war."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]