Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52, 4240, "81-161"
History
The aircraft commonly identified as the Mitsubishi A6M Zero "4241" displayed at the Yasukuni Shrine is one of the most historically significant surviving Japanese fighter aircraft from the Second World War. It is exhibited inside the Yūshūkan military museum attached to the shrine, a museum dedicated to Japan's military history and war dead.
The aircraft is a late-war Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 Zero, the final major production version of the famous "Zero" fighter designed by Jiro Horikoshi for the Imperial Japanese Navy. The A6M series first entered service in 1940 and quickly became one of the most feared carrier fighters of the Pacific War because of its exceptional maneuverability and long range.
The Yūshūkan aircraft is not a completely intact single airframe. Instead, historians and restoration specialists identify it as a composite restoration built primarily from aircraft serial numbers 4240 and 4241, with additional recovered components added during reconstruction. The fuselage and wings mainly came from serial 4240, while parts from 4241 were also incorporated, which is why the aircraft is often referred to simply as "4241."
During the war, these aircraft served in the Southwest Pacific theater, particularly around Rabaul in present-day Papua New Guinea. Rabaul was one of Japan's most important forward bases and became the site of intense aerial combat against American and Allied forces between 1943 and 1944. Many Japanese aircraft were abandoned there after the war as Japan's military infrastructure collapsed.
The remains of the Zero were recovered from the Rabaul area in the mid-1970s. According to aviation restoration records and museum references, the wreckage was brought back to Japan in 1974 or 1975. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries participated in the restoration process, helping return the aircraft to display condition while preserving as much original material as possible.
Today, the aircraft is painted in the markings of the Imperial Japanese Navy's 281st Kokutai (Naval Air Group). That unit was formed in 1943 and operated in harsh northern and Pacific combat zones before suffering devastating losses late in the war.
The Zero is displayed prominently inside the Yūshūkan museum as a symbol of Japanese military aviation history. The museum itself remains controversial because of its interpretation of Japan's wartime actions and its association with the Yasukuni Shrine, where more than two million Japanese war dead are enshrined, including convicted Class-A war criminals added in 1978. Because of this, the shrine and museum are frequently the focus of political debate and international criticism.
Despite the controversy surrounding the museum, the restored A6M5 remains one of the best-preserved original Zero airframes in Japan and an important artifact of Pacific War aviation history. Aviation enthusiasts often regard it as especially valuable because relatively few authentic Zeros survived the war, and even fewer retain substantial original wartime structure.