It`s one of only five flyable Zeros in the world owned and operated by the Commemorative Air Force's (CAF) Southern California Wing, based at Camarillo.. This aircraft is an Mitsubishi A6M3 Model 22, which was shot down over New Guinea in 1941. It was recovered from Babo Airfield, Indonesia, in 1991 still sitting on the crates the Japanese had propped it on for repairs that were never finished. It was partially restored from several A6M3s in Russia, then brought to the United States for restoration. The aircraft was re-registered in 1998 and displayed at the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, California. It uses a Pratt & Whitney R1830 engine.

The Zero was a very versatile and efficient fighter plane. The highly manoeuvrable and lightweight Zero was feared by the Allied forces in the Pacific. The Zero was a manoeuvrable longrange fighter and more than 40 were deployed from aircraft carriers by the Japanese to bomb Pearl Harbour in Hawaii in December 1941. the A6M3 Model 22 already stood ready for service in December 1942. Approximately 560 aircraft of the new type had been produced in the meantime by Mitsubishi Jukogyo K.K. 

Steve Barber, wing leader of the Southern California section of the Commemorative Air Force, an organisation that sponsors and restores World War II-era planes, says ‘‘The airplane is as it was, the cockpit is original, its a lot of fun to fly.’’ He said the plane was virtually factory fresh, with only a few modifications or concessions to modernity, including a GPS system, PressReader reported.

On this video you can listen to Steve Barber and beholding this magnificent Warbird on display at the July 2011 Experimental Aircraft Association's (EAA) AirVenture air and trade show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.