Nakajima Ki43 Oscar : Rear fuselage; Nakajima Ki43 Oscar : Engine cowling propeller and mount

In September 1984 a combined Australian War Memorial/RAAF team recovered this damaged Japanese airframe from the Sek fighter airstrip at Alexishafen near Madang, Papua New Guinea. Codenamed “Oscar” by the allied forces, the Nakajima Ki43-II Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon) was the principal fighter aircraft used by the Japanese Army Air Forces during the Pacific war. Together with navy fighter aircraft, machines of this type participated in all the significant Japanese land actions after 1941, and the Oscar was used extensively against Australian forces.

It is believed this aircraft was abandoned at the airstrip following a crash landing. The Oscar was lightly constructed with thin metal sheets of alloy, and it suffered significant damage from its 40 years in the jungle, with exposure to dampness, rotting vegetation, grass fires, and the local people salvaging parts of its metal skin.

Displayed here is the fuselage section and engine of this all-metal, single-engine, low-wing monoplane fighter aircraft. Although the airframe was initially intended for restoration and eventual reconstruction, it was later decided to preserve it unrestored and as a relic. This preservation project from late 1996 to early 1997 involved immersion in a small above-ground swimming pool in an electrochemical bath. Over a month the chemical solution gradually extracted corrosive salts, halting deterioration. After a week in fresh water, it was covered in a wax coating. This was the first time such a process had been attempted on an aircraft.