According to AW&ST, Texas Airplane Factory is nearing the test flight of the first of four Nakajima Type 1, Model Ki.43 fighters.
The aircraft are as true to the original as possible, although they will be powered by rebuilt P&W R-1830, as there are no existing original Japanese engines.
He said these are not replicas, but are planes "rebuilt" from rusted debris recovered about 10 years ago on the northernmost Japanese islands. He said only about 2 percent of the planes are original, but that is enough to consider them rebuilt.
The Tischlers, with a team of machinists and metal workers, have been rebuilding the planes since 1997.
It hasn't been easy. With the Japanese surrender in 1945, George Tischler said, most of the planes were destroyed by Nakajima, a company that broke up after the war. Segments of the company continue in automakers Nissan, Subaru and in film- and camera-maker Fuji.
Tischler said the lack of plans or specifications left his team the arduous task of learning how to rebuild them from decrepit pieces of fuselage, wing and motors recovered from jungles and under water.
"When you don't have plans, it becomes a challenge," he said, "but it's a neat thing to bring back a piece of history."
Herb Tischler, 77, said they also do it for the money.
One is being sold to the Tillamook Air Museum in Oregon. Another is headed for the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field in Seattle. The other two have some backers, but no firm buyers.
