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World War II Japanese Aircraft at the Old Colonia Airport, Yap State Federated States of Micronesia Appendix: Site Condition Reports Site #5 Identification: Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero, based on: symmetrical fuselage gun mounts; extractor exhaust; small outboard fuel tanks on wings. This Zero includes the center fuselage with wings attached sitting on one gear leg (right), engine about 10m away and the tail section sitting on end in a bomb crater about 20m away. This site is fairly well concealed in the bush about 50m from the edge of the cleared area around the airstrip. Although heavily corroded this wreck retains many more of the small components than observed on sites 1 through 4. We did not thoroughly clear this site, nor did we map it in detail as we did Site #s 1-4. Engine: Sitting upright, highly corroded, with one prop blade buried and the other two bent, spinner still attached. This example features extractor exhaust and portions of the cowl. Accessory case is intact. Fuselage: The fuselage is intact from firewall back to aft edge of wing. As usual, items such as instruments, control stick etc., are missing, but many smaller components are still in place. Cockpit interior is corroded, but not too badly compared to others observed. Wings: The right wing is twisted and highly damaged from bomb blast and corrosion. Left wing is partially buried and highly corroded. These wings had small outboard fuel tanks which helped in the identification of a model A6M5. Tail: The tail is sitting on its end inside a bomb crater. It is highly corroded but basically intact. Click on each photo below to open a full-sized image in a new window. Site #5: Tail section in crater. Site #5: Cockpit interior Site #5: Fuselage and wing. Site #5: Engine and propeller. Site #6 Identification:Identification: Right and left wings from a relatively small plane, most likely but not certainly a Zero. It is damaged from bomb blast and highly corroded. Interestingly this aircraft has the only example noted of a tire still partially intact. We did not clear or map this site. Site #6 showing gear with tire. Site #7 Identification: Mitsubishi A6M5 “Zero,” based on: symmetrical fuselage gun mounts, extractor exhaust, small outboard fuel tanks on wings, fixed wing tips; engine had a top air intake; cannon blister in wing. This Zero retains the center fuselage with wings attached sitting on both gear, wings broken outboard of the gear and complete engine, less propellor, broken off and sitting on the ground. This site is also fairly well concealed in the bush about 50m from the edge of the cleared area around the airstrip. Similar to site #5, this airframe is heavily corroded and retains many more of the small components than we have observed on sites 1 thru 4. It has two trees growing out of the cockpit. We neither cleared nor mapped this site. Engine: The engine is broken loose from its mounts, the prop is missing. It has a top air intake. The accessory case and portions of the cowl are still intact. It also has extractor exhaust. Fuselage: The fuselage is intact from firewall back to aft edge of wing with a fairly complete cockpit. The tail section has been unbolted and removed. Again, instruments, control stick etc., are missing, but many smaller components are still in place. Cockpit interior is corroded, but not too badly as compared to other observed. Wing: The right wing is badly broken between the gear and the fuselage. Wing tip is missing, unbolted, and corrosion is high. Left wing is broken and collapsed outboard of the gear and what is left is highly corroded. Site #7: View of tail detachment. Site #7: View of left side fuselage. Site #7: Engine, reverse view. Site #7: Engine. Site #7: Cockpit area. Site #7: Fuselage, engine, wing. Revetment #1 Revetment #1 is located 20m off the main road and has a collection of aircraft parts scattered around its inside perimeter. Almost everything is damaged and corroded. Incomplete list of components: Wing sections; Single row radial engine Canopy and miscellaneous parts. Canopy appears to be from a Mitsubishi Zero There are probably many more parts covered by the brush within this revetment, which we did not clear due to time constraints. Revetment #1: Canopy fragments. Revetment #1: Aircraft parts. Revetment #2  Revetment site 2 is relatively clear of high vegetation, but time was insufficient to map or inspect it in detail. It lies just off the main road about half the distance from Revetment #1 to the runway. No aircraft parts were noted during a very superficial reconnaissance, but some may be hidden, particularly along the edges where the vegetation is higher. Revetment #3 This revetment, near the junction of the main road with the runway, is heavily overgrown and conceals a bomb damaged Showa/Nakajima L2D “Tabby.” The fuselage and right wing have been blown apart, probably by the bomb that formed a large crater next to the remains of the right wing. The left wing is fairly intact and sitting on its gear leg. Corrosion is high on almost everything. Revetment #3 undoubtedly contains many more components beneath its dense foliage and would be worthy of further investigation. Revetment #3: Fuselage interior. Revetment #3: Fuselage.

World War II Japanese Aircraft at the Old Colonia Airport, Yap State Federated States of Micronesia Appendix: Site Condition Reports Site #3 Identification: Mitsubishi A6M5B Zero fighter based on: Outboard fuel tanks; fixed wing tips, no bulge under wing panel, large & small caliber fuselage guns. Site #3 consists of one wing sitting on its right gear leg, connected with a small part of the fuselage in the cockpit area, and part of the other wing. 95% of the fuselage is missing, including the tail section and everything from the firewall forward. The left gear leg has been removed, unbolted, and the engine mounts have been cut to remove the complete engine package. Fuselage: What is left of the fuselage exhibits considerable damage from shrapnel or small arms fire. Two different size ammunition chutes are still attached behind the firewall, but almost everything else is missing. Different caliber feed chutes for the fuselage machine guns help identify this as an A6M5B. Wing: Spar caps are highly corroded, right wing outer panel has failed and is lying on the ground. Top skins on center section are in relatively good condition; some graffiti. What is left of the left wing is mangled from the gear outboard. Corrosion is significant inside the wings and on the lower surfaces. Click on each photo below to open a full-sized image in a new window. Site #3 Overview Site #3 showing engine mounts. Site #3: Shrapnel/small arms damage Site #3: Remnant fuselage. Site #3: Ammunition feed chutes. Site #3: Corrosion on wing undersurface. Site #4 Identification: Mitsubishi G4M1 Model 11 “Betty” bomber, based on: bolt together tail/fuselage; tail cone, rear gun position: flat flanged frame w/downward view windows; round hatch, port side, within red insignia just aft of bolt together seam; tear drop shaped waist gun positions, P&S, Model 11 style; top gun position, Model 11 style; nose section: minimal glass fwd of windshield; props have spinners; 3 blade props; exhaust collector rings. Site #4 is a Betty bomber blown apart by a bomb blast and possibly relocated by subsequent runway clearing. The tail section (Debris Field B) is sitting on the edge of a large bomb crater and the right wing is mostly buried in the edge of that crater. The left wing, left engine, cockpit section and remainder of the fuselage are about twenty meters away (Debris Field A). The tail section and right wing are likely sitting where they came to rest after the blast while the rest of the parts seem to have been consolidated close by. There are miscellaneous parts and a small tail section from a single engine plane (Zero?) mixed in with the Betty wreckage. Several other bomb craters are close by. The trail leading into the site has been marked with native plants and is maintained. Trees have been trimmed around this site to keep wreckage clear. Along this trail, 100m to the north is the wreckage of a Boeing 727-92C (Continental Air Micronesia Flight 614, N18479, which went off the runway on November 21, 1980). Tail section (Debris Field B): The tail section is sitting on the edge of a large bomb crater, perhaps the one that destroyed the plane, though this feature may also reflect in part, or have been modified by, subsequent runway clearing and grading. Dirt is pushed up under the right side tilting it about twenty degrees to the west, away from the crater. It is largely complete from the bolt together seam aft. The right side of this section exhibits bomb blast damage from the direction of the crater. The right side is buckled, shrapnel has come out the left side and the vertical stabilizer is bent to the left, away from the blast. The paint has deteriorated from the sun and elements, leaving an orange primer on about 50% of the structure. Exterior skins on top of the fuselage are in good condition while those on the sides and closer to the ground are more corroded. The left side horizontal stabilizer is highly corroded, and exhibits blue inner coating. The tail cone, gunner position, is completely intact; no Plexiglas in the openings. What is left of the corroded 20 mm. cannon is still in approximate position, though disattached. The right horizontal stabilizer is sticking up at about 20 degrees above horizontal and is highly corroded. Corrosion on the skins seems to develop on the inside and eat its way to the outside. Right wing: The right wing appears to be about 90% buried in the west bank of the bomb crater, as presumably is the right engine. The wing root portion is exposed. Other bits are scattered around the crater, all highly corroded. Left wing debris field A: The left wing and engine are likely located close to their original landing place after the bomb blast. Much of the other smaller debris in the area has been moved to this site. The wing is located roughly E-W and is resting right side up, with smaller components and debris piled on top. This section extends from the centerline of the fuselage out about 1m past the attachment point for the outer wing panel and is highly corroded. Miscellaneous Debris: Pieces stacked on or lying around the wing include: corrugated floor panels, curved fairings, control surface pieces, hydraulic plumbing, oil coolers, exhaust components, pressure tanks (fire and/or oxygen), landing gear and wheel, pumps, wrapped wiring harness sections, wing tip, electrical components and switches as well as many other less identifiable components. Engine: The left engine is sitting upright, spinner pointed toward the sky, just north of the left wing about two meters from its original mount. A three blade prop is still attached, one blade moderately bent and one severely curled under. The engine is a fourteen cylinder, two row radial. The cowl is still attached and may or may not have had one air intake. The area is mangled. The exhaust goes into a ring manifold. Everything is highly corroded. Debris Field

World War II Japanese Aircraft at the Old Colonia Airport, Yap State Federated States of Micronesia Appendix: Site Condition Reports Site #1 Identification: Nakajima BN5 “Kate” dive bomber based on comparison with published specifications and examples. Parts of another unidentified single engine aircraft. The engine from the Kate and the wing from the unidentified plane are said to have been removed by collectors from Japan in the 1980s, and then returned to their present locations. The engine and a wing portion from the unidentified aircraft are in a near by gully that may be a bomb crater; they appear not to have been moved. Kate: The engine next to the end of the Kate fuselage is generally corroded, but not too seriously for its age. A partial propeller and exhaust system are still attached. The steel cylinders in this engine are corroded through. The blower and accessory case are missing, having been unbolted and removed. Some rocker covers have been removed while others are broken or otherwise damaged. The cylinder heads are broken. Skins on the fuselage are low on corrosion, but the paint has been faded by long exposure to sunlight and the elements. Shrapnel damage is evident over much of the surface. Corrosion is high in areas close to or contacting the ground. All removable components (controls, instruments, placards, etc) are missing. The spar caps are highly corroded, exhibiting complete exfoliation. A tail section that matches specifications for Kate lies badly corroded flat on the ground, damaged by shrapnel. Unidentified Plane: The right wing of the unidentified aircraft is lying upside down on ground with its gear sticking straight up. This gear appears too long to be from a Zero. The wing is highly corroded and partially crushed. The left gear is lying on top of the right wing. The gear legs are in fairly good condition, but the wheels, which appear to be magnesium, are highly corroded. The left wing – badly damaged and corroded – is located in the gully at the north end of the site. Engine #2, also in the gully, is missing its propeller blades; its hub is intact and includes a cowl with air intake ducting. A crushed fuel tank and a possible gear leg lie nearby. There is no evidence of vandalism or other recent human damage, though it is possible that parts of the aircraft were bulldozed into the gully during airport construction. Click on each photo below to open a full-sized image in a new window. Site # 1 Overview Site #1 showing engine said to have been removed and returned. Site #1: Wing and engine in gully Site #1: Detail of Kate engine. Site #1: Kate fuselage showing primer. Site #1: Kate engine showing damage to rocker covers and cylinder heads. Site #1: Engine detail showing absence of blower and accessory case. Site #1: Wing and engine in crater. Site #1: Right wing of unidentified aircraft. Site #1: Kate empennage showing corrosion on ground. Site #1: Kate, exfoliation of spar caps. Site #1: Kate wing showing accelerated corrosion of components in contact with ground. Site #1: Kate fuselage showing probable shrapnel damage. Site #1: Engine 2.

World War II Japanese Aircraft at the Old Colonia Airport, Yap State Federated States of Micronesia Conclusions Significance The aircraft at the old Colonia airport, and for that matter the airport and old dispersal area themselves, represent an historically important World War II military landscape. The overall landscape appears eligible for the U.S. National Register of Historic Places under at least two National Register Criteria (36 CFR 60.4). Association with World War II and the strategies of the two opposing forces makes the property eligible under Criterion A (association with significant historic events or patterns of events). As representative of a type of offensive airbase the landscape is probably eligible under Criterion C (representative of a type, representative of a distinguishable entity), as are its aircraft wrecks both individually and as contributing elements to the landscape. To the extent that study of the site can yield useful information about World War II and/or Japanese military aircraft construction during World War II, the airfield area is probably also eligible under National Register Criterion D (information significant in the study of history or prehistory). Site #s 1 and 4 – the “Kate” and the “Betty” – may be particularly significant both for the relative rarity of the aircraft they represent and for the important roles both bomber types played in World War II. Further study of the landscape and its contributing elements – aircraft, revetments, artillery emplacements, taxiways, and the support facilities that must have been associated with the Japanese airfield could usefully supplement and enrich the existing historical record of World War II in the Pacific. Condition The wrecks have been torn apart to varying degrees by the original bombing and in some cases by later earthmoving and purposeful relocation of parts. The Betty (Site #4) retains an intact empennage but otherwise is badly fragmented. The Kate (Site #1) and the Zeros (Site #s 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7) typically have lost their engine areas back to the firewall, and their empennages and fuselage portions aft of the cockpit. Most engines remain on-site, however, as do some empennages. Some of the planes are still standing on one or both landing gears. Where wings are elevated from the ground they are typically broken near their midpoints, perhaps simply from corrosion, perhaps from a combination of bomb and strafing damage, corrosion, and human action (it is easy to imagine people standing on them and causing breakage after corrosion had weakened them). All the wrecks are experiencing varying levels of deterioration due to corrosion. Deterioration is going on most rapidly where the metal of the wrecks is in contact with the ground. Typically these areas are severely deteriorated, while areas that remain permanently in the air are in better condition. Most parts that might be attractive to collectors have been removed from all the wrecks, and all are inscribed with graffiti. We attempted to match the wrecks we examined with photographs taken of aircraft at the Colonia airport in the 1970s and 1980s, but were unable to make any definitive matches. Nevertheless, the differences between the aircraft depicted twenty to thirty years ago and those we examined are striking, and suggest that the planes are deteriorating and/or being disassembled and taken away quickly. Aircraft depicted in 1970s/80s photos typically have complete engines attached, complete empennages, and cockpit canopies, and are standing on their gear. The aircraft we examined obviously display none of these characteristics. Management Options Management of the area, and particularly of its aircraft wrecks, presents daunting challenges. The wrecks are obviously deteriorating, and will continue to do so unless protective measures are taken. Taking such measures would be expensive, however, and the payoff for taking them is uncertain. While the wrecks undoubtedly attract a certain number of tourists, it is probably rare for anyone to visit Yap for the sole purpose of looking at them, so it is difficult to argue that preserving them will benefit Yap in any financial way. They are historic relics, of course, but not every historic relic can be preserved forever. Every government, and indeed every individual, makes decisions every day about what to preserve and what to let go. The government of Yap is faced with such a decision concerning the wrecks at the old Colonia airport. The following management options are available: Do Nothing. If nothing is done – if the wrecks are simply left to deteriorate – they will continue to corrode and fall apart. People will continue to take parts away. We estimate that within twenty to thirty years, most of the wrecks will be reduced to piles of corroded parts on the ground, and eventually they will disappear altogether. Preserve in Place, in Perpetuity. At the other end of the spectrum of possible management options is that of very active intervention to preserve the wrecks in place, in perpetuity. This would involve a complex of protective and conservation measures, such as building roofs over the wrecks, elevating them above the ground, treating them with protective chemicals and coatings, and policing them to prevent further theft and vandalism. Preserve in a Museum Context. Another preservation alternative would be to move the wrecks, or some wrecks, to a museum or museum-like location where they could be covered, attended to, and conserved. Combined with the application of preservative chemicals and coatings this could extend an aircraft’s life more or less indefinitely, but at the cost of losing connection with the craft’s original location and the events that led to its condition. Museum conservation would also carry a heavy price tag in both the long and short runs. Slow the Process of Decay. A number of relatively simple measures could be undertaken to slow the deterioration of the wrecks, though these measures would by no means halt decay altogether. Simply lifting the wreckage off the ground and placing it on piers or pilings while removing soil from it would reduce the rate of corrosion in the areas most subject to it. Building simple shelters over

World War II Japanese Aircraft at the Old Colonia Airport, Yap State Federated States of Micronesia Additional Sites Tabby This site was visited but not recorded. It is well known, and is described by Patrick Rafranze on his “missing aircrews” Worldwide Web site.4 As Rafranze notes, the “Tabby” – the Showa/Nakajima L2D – was a Navy land-based version of the Douglas DC-3, built by the Japanese under a license from the Douglas company between 1939 and 1945, ostensibly as a civilian airliner. The wreck is in a revetment (Revetment 3) northwest of the west end of the runway, at latitude 9° 29.097′ N, longitude 138° 04.176′ E. At least the entire empennage is present, together with the left wing from its tip inward to just outboard the right engine. A bomb hole perhaps five meters deep and 15 or more meters wide indicates that the aircraft took a direct hit during one of the U.S. bombing raids. Revetments Two additional revetments (Revetments 1 and 2) were visited and photographed (but were too covered with vegetation to be very usefully imaged) but not recorded in detail. One is near the north end of the western taxiway, on the taxiway’s northwest side, at latitude 9° 29.358′ N, longitude 138° 04.423′ E, and contains the remnants of an unidentified aircraft. The other appears to be empty; it lies on the southeast side of the western taxiway near its midpoint, at latitude 9° 29.248′ N, longitude 138° 04.420′ E. Gun Emplacement A single-barrel gun emplacement was visited and photographed near Site #s 2 and 3. Although popularly thought to be an antiaircraft battery, it is reported to be a harbor gun relocated to this site after the war (presumably as a tourist attraction). The gun displays damage consistent with strafing. 4   http://www.missingaircrew.com/yap/MISSINGAIRIMAGE_YAP/YAP_JAPANESE_CARGO_PLANE/opt/index1.asp References Cited Dunn, Richard L., 2006. “Yap Island: The Air Battle.” http://www.missingaircrew.com/yapsum.asp, accessed July 28, 2006.Mikesh, Robert C., 1994. Combat and Development History of Japan’s Legendary Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter. MBI Publishing. ISBN 0-87938-915-X.Nohara, Shigeru, 1983. A6M Zero in Action. Squadron/Signal Publications. ISBN 0-89747-141-5.Tagaya, Osamu, 2001. Mitsubishi Type 1 Rikko “Betty” Units of World War 2. Osprey Publishing Ltd., ISBN 1-84176-082-X.

World War II Japanese Aircraft at the Old Colonia Airport, Yap State Federated States of Micronesia Site #7 This is a Mitsubishi A6M5 “Zero” that retains its wings and the cockpit area of the fuselage; the engine as usual has become detached at the firewall and the after part of the fuselage has been unbolted, and apparently removed from the site; it was nowhere to be found. The fixed wingtips have also been unbolted. The engine has a top air intake, and one wing displays a cannon blister. This site, like #s 5 and 6, lies southeast of the runway, at latitude 9° 29.142′ N, longitude 138° 04.496′ E.