| Author | Message | ||
     Pwnzor |
My job is mostly boring... I'm Logistics Coordinator for Orange Courier, Inc. Lots of paperwork and phone calls. I deal with permits, regulations and customs all day. I am my company's liason to the commercial law enforcement community which is kind of funny considering my history. That being said, I'd like to share with you a recent project by way of narrative and pictorial presentation. After two months of preparation and planning, we moved a Mitsubishi Zero model 22 (built after Midway) from Long Beach Airport down to the Port of Long Beach by way of city streets. There are 17 Zero's known to exist, and of them, only three are in flying condition. Only one has the original engine. This one, tail number X-133 has a Pratt & Whitney in it. This isn't just a regular wide load, anything over 15 feet wide is considered a "superload" and this particular plane is 38 feet 6 inches wide after the wingtips are folded. The story begins with a pilot from the Commemorative Air Force flying the Zero from Camarillo to Long Beach. Thanks to Airflite for the use of their equipment, their ramp and the many hours of time which they donated to the CAF to make this all possible.      Next step is the prepare the aircraft for it's trip to the port. Here the covers are being removed from the landing gear to prevent damage from strapping.  Draining the fuel...  Attaching the lift points which will be attached to the bridle.  Wingtips up, and tow dolly attached.  Under tow to the fence at the edge of the flight line  From this point, we will lift the plane over the fence to our waiting flatbed.  This bridle was custom made by the CAF just for this aircraft, it attaches to 4 points on the frame, fore and aft of the cockpit. This crusty old fellow has actually shot down two Zeros and a few other planes. He is now one of only two people allowed to fly this plane.  This cradle goes underneath the wheels so it can straddle the bed of the truck.  Pushing the plane into the cradle by hand.   Strapping the wheels into the cradle.  Crane boom is up, and attaching the bridle to the aircraft...    ....and up she goes!            I had to get at least one picture of me in here, bald guy second from the left.  I'm right in the center of the picture, under the wing facing away from the camera. The guy next to me with the two white stripes on his arm is Doctor Moneybags... he's paying the bill for all this.  She's all strapped down, now we wait for the Highway Patrol to show up along with our civilian escorts.   In the background is Boeing's C-17 Globemaster facility.  After the load was inspected, it was suddenly time to go. Four CHP units roll in front with a single civilian pilot, and one CHP with another pilot follow up at the rear. The forward units block all side streets and sweep traffic out of the way. Once this truck started moving, it didn't stop until we got down to the ship yard.        Out of frame here is the damned light poles that are way too close together for this plane to fit. So we hopped some curbs by hooking the left wing through, then backed up to hook the right wing past the tree. Like moving an L-shaped couch through a doorway.  Fast-forward a few hours, had to wait for the ITS terminal to open.   At long last, getting ready to lift it off my drop deck onto a flat rack.               This is the vessel we're hitching a ride on, Annabelle Schulte  Had to wait all day for them to fill the lower deck holds so we could have the top space below decks.  Here's where she will ride all the way to New Zealand.  These overhead crane operators are absolutely amazing. The way they move things around with absolutely zero sway, and they hit the target every single time. It's really something to see up close.        Time to put the lid on the cookie jar.     And that, my friends, is how we do it. A job well done, followed by 14 hours of straight sleep. Thanks to the Commemorative Air Force for the great honor of being selected to move this priceless historic aircraft. The people in New Zealand watching the air show may never know all that has gone into it, but they get to see an authentic Zero dogfighting with an authentic F6F Hellcat (shipped from another location). I hope everyone enjoyed these images, feel free to send me a PM if you want me to email you any full-resolution copies of these pics. The originals are 10 megapixel, very nice. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Although very cool, not really what I was hoping for. I'm a zero, and I'd like to move to New Zealand. Have you got that how to? | ||
| Firebolt32 |
Maybe a dumb question but that seemed like a lot of time and trouble. Why couldn't it fly there? To the ship yard or better yet NZ? | ||
| 03fatboy |
I would bet all tolled it is cheaper and definitely safer to have it shipped then try and island hop to get it to NZ. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
The only way to fly it there would be to have a WWII Japanese aircraft carrier available to land on. It simply doesn't have the range. Much cheaper and easier to ship. Flying it that far would be like using a Model T as a daily driver. | ||
| Pwnzor |
.The plane doesn't have the range necessary to make the trip and is incapable of midair refueling. There is no runway at the shipyard, so that's out. Airspace over the container terminal is also restricted. This is the only way to do this job other than putting it on an aircraft carrier, and those were all busy last time I checked. Thanks for reading. | ||
| Froggy |
Amazing. What did it cost for everything? | ||
| Pwnzor |
Flying it that far would be like using a Model T as a daily driver. This particular aircraft has a Pratt & Whitney R1830 engine, and it runs like a top. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
That's cheating. That is a FANTASTIC motor! DC-3 Catalina Liberator Wildcat | ||
| Pwnzor |
Of the 17 Zero's known to exist, only three are flightworthy. Two of them have the P&W R1830, the other one, the Holy Grail of Zero's, has the original motor. It can be seen at an air museum in Chino, CA. They fly it about once every 12 to 18 months just to knock the dust off it. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Amazing. What did it cost for everything? For my part, the ground transportation only, we charged about $8500 to go the 10 miles across town. The ocean freight was paid directly by the customer, but I can guess that since it took up 6 container spaces, I'll guess around $18000 for that. I have no idea what they did in NZ to get it off the ship, that's another company entirely. | ||
| Hootowl |
Mitsubishi made those right? | ||
| Pwnzor |
Mitsubishi A6M3 "Zero" Model 22 I've got a fact sheet on the plane at home, I'll post it up when I get back. | ||
| Buellkowski |
I'm a logistician, too, and have had a couple of opportunities to participate in moving unusual cargo. The importation of 10,000 baby chicks pales in comparison to your Zero, but it was a lot more fun than that shipment of horse semen... My company even uses Orange Courier from time to time.  | ||
| Nevrenuf |
matt, pm sent. that looked like fun even if it did go on longer than expected. the wifes brother's wife works for a company that does a lot of overseas shipping and they do a lot of motorcycles from what she says. mostly with a guy from a biker "group". there is money to be had in transport. | ||
| P47b |
I would of loved to be part of that. | ||
| Sknight |
That's pretty cool. Even though it's enemy aircraft it's just as important to preserve it. I have to wonder though, why make the folding wingtips like that? It saved what, three feet overall? Has to have been done to squeeze into an existing area. | ||
| J2blue |
I wonder why they even made the wing tips fold for no more than 2 foot of saved space? I know they had a reason, but it sure seems strange. I remember most of our Navy planes had wings that folded nearly in half. Cool pics, and I bet it was a fun project. | ||
| Finmars |
Hi Pwnzor, Good work.That Zero was delivered safe and sound to Port of Tauranga. I saw it. Here's a link to the local paper. http://www.sunlive.co.nz/13392a1.page | ||
| Aeholton |
Would be cool if DangerDave could photographically document it's arrival in NZ. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Great pictures... they really show off the flowing lines of that Zero... | ||
| 46champ |
I'm really guessing but they probably made the wing tips to fold to fit the elevators on some of the carriers. Prewar carriers didn't have standard size elevators even on the same ship. Folding wings weren't universal on carrier planes designed before the war. Most biplanes didn't fold their wings along with some of the first generation monoplane aircraft i.e. Douglas SBD. | ||
| Froggy |
According to Wikipedia it was to fit on the aircraft carriers. | ||
| Xbimmer |
...but they get to see an authentic Zero dogfighting with an authentic F6F Hellcat... I used to get to see that, I worked at a facility just past the west end of the Camarillo airstrip. The F6F is awesome to watch in flight, but that Zeke is just plain beautiful. Tiny compared with our fighters. CAF always had interesting things going on over there. Loved it when a B-17 or B-24 would visit, you should hear one of them climbing after takeoff right over your head in a steel building. | ||
| Squintz |
They should have just taken the wings off and then stuffed it in a C-17 Globemaster. | ||
| Pwnzor |
The wings spars are a single machined piece all the way across, up to the point where they fold. Believe me, we wanted to take the wings off, but the plane would have to be pretty much dismantled to do so. The wings on this particular model are longer than the original Zeros, the folding tips made it so they could fit the same number of planes on the deck. Also, folding parts cost more to build, and these planes were mostly intended for one-way trips. Zeke was the name given to it by Allied intelligence, but was more commonly known as Zero. Mitsubishi made this plane, but Nakajima also made a lot of the earlier model zeros. I have a little fact sheet about the plane, I scanned it front and back for all to read. It's PDF format. | ||
| Danger_dave |
>>Would be cool if DangerDave could photographically document it's arrival in NZ.<< Yeah - Old planes make nice backdrops for photos of motorcycles. :-) | ||
| Pwnzor |
My company even uses Orange Courier from time to time just noticed this... ask for Matt, I'll take good care of your freight. | ||
| Sknight |
That makes sense, I figured it had to be for an existing location. | ||
| Aesquire |
Great pics, and great job! The P&W engine explains why I was going nuts figuring out what model it was, that's not the regular cowling. Zero's were amazing planes for their day, It's a late '30's design, and range and maneuverability were absolute musts, all else was secondary. The idea was to have a long ranging plane to project power in the planned Island Empire the Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. The original engine was a built like a swiss watch and with a small belly tank nothing of it's time had the range. Not even close. The Flying Tigers in China ( the american Volunteer Group ) learned not to dogfight with the Zero, Japanese pilots could loop around onto your tail at low speeds, so they learned to hit head on at speed and dive away turning. The Zero had practically no armor, and couldn't keep up with Wildcats and Tomahawks in a dive. Slow down to turn with one, you lose. It was built light....no, lighter than that. Later marks has only a thin rubber sheet in the bottom of the gas tank to seal leaks when bullets poked holes in them, quite a bit behind the Allied planes which learned a lot from the war in Europe about the need for self sealing fuel tanks and pilot & oil tank armor. At a time when Japanese planes were called poor copies, it was ahead of it's time. The Japanese bought engines, and instruments from the U.S., and anywhere else that had better tech, built them under license, and in many cases improved upon them. Quite a few airplanes that for one reason or another were not bought by the U.S. Army were sold to Japan, (with permission from the govt.) and the Zero was called a copy of an older Northrup design. It wasn't. Though techniques for metal wing spars & construction were learned by the Japanese from these planes, only the DC-2 copy was a real success. It would take a complete rebuild to remove the wings. Easy repair was way down the list on desired qualities. |
