(Image: Warner Bros. via Blu-ray.com; crashed ‘Zero’ in Empire of the Sun)
There’s a defining scene early on in Steven Spielberg’s 1987 film Empire of the Sun, based on J. G. Ballard’s award-winning novel of the same name. Therein, the story’s young protagonist, Jamie “Jim” Graham, played by Christian Bale, encounters the wreck of a downed Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter abandoned in a field. The scene has a haunting quality to it, and serves as the perfect prelude to the events that are to unfold.
Back to the real world, and surviving Zero fighters aren’t especially easy to come by. So Urban Ghosts decided to uncover more information about the wrecked warbird that Bale climbs on and imagines himself flying. Was it real, or a full scale replica? The answer: neither.
(Image: Benno Goethals; abandoned AT-6 Texan)
The aircraft is actually a modified North American AT-6 Texan, an advanced trainer operated by various air forces from World War Two until, in the case of Brazil, the mid-1980s. Used primarily by the United States Army Air Force, the US Navy, RAF and various British Commonwealth air forces, more than 15,400 Texans were built.
So when filming of Empire of the Sun rolled around, the availability of surviving airframes and its resemblance to the A6M Zero made the Texan ideal for the role. It had, after all, stood in successfully for the Zero in the earlier 1970 war film Tora! Tora! Tora! A total of four aircraft were used as Zeros during filming of Empire of the Sun, but it’s the wrecked one that sticks in the memory.
(Image: Alan Wilson; AT-6 under restoration at Bruntingthorpe)
What’s more, it turns out that particular Texan still exists, and is currently undergoing a full restoration to flying condition at Bruntingthorpe airfield in Leicestershire, England.
History of AT-6 Texan 42-4415
The aircraft, Bu No 42-4415, was built in 1942 at North American Aviation’s plant in Dallas, and was delivered the following year to the USAAF Advanced Pilot School at Napier Field, Alabama. Now owned by Beech Restorations of Moulton, Northampton, the aircraft has a rather distinguished history.
The AT-6D model Texan, which helped train a multitude of American, British and Commonwealth pilots who would later serve on operational fighters, also saw service at Alabama’s Craig Field and Independence Field, Kansas before finally heading for storage in June 1947.
(Image: US Air Force; two AT-6 trainers during World War Two)
Destined to fly again, the the well-worn trainer was converted to T-6G standard in 1952 and passed to the 3301st Pilot Training Squadron at Columbus AFB in Ohio. Then, three years later, it was sent to the famous aircraft boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona, no longer needed by the US armed forces.
Scrapping could well have followed, but Texan 42-4415’s number wasn’t quite up. Sold to France in January 1957 as part of the Mutual Defence Aid Program, through which the US sought to supply arms to friendly countries to counter the threat of communism, the aircraft headed for Europe.
Now under the command of the French Air Force and issued the new serial number 114700, the aircraft earned its combat wings as part of the 4/72 Squadron, Ground Support Light Aviation Command in Tiaret, Algeria. Fitted with 7.5mm gun pods and rocket packs, France bestowed the nickname ‘Tomcat’ on its ex-US aircraft acquisitions on account of the growl from the Texan’s engine.
(Image: Benno Goethals; AT-6 42-4415 lying derelict in France)
By 1965, however, the airframe was both worn out and technologically obsolete, and the French Air Force grounded the ageing warbird. According to Beech Restorations, the following period was one of obscurity for the aircraft. But it resurfaced again in 1979, lying derelict on its side with other abandoned Texans at La Ferte Alais, Paris.
The battered hulk somehow survived until 1984, when it was shipped to the UK and finally found its way into the Empire of the Sun film shoot. With the addition of bent propeller blades, a faded Imperial Japanese paint scheme and other minor alterations, the Texan ‘Tomcat’ was ready for its new role as a crashed Mitsubishi A6M Zero.
(Image: Benno Goethals; awaiting disposal)
Immortalised on screen and bloodied in combat, the old World War Two trainer was purchased by Beech Restorations in 2001 and obtained the civil registration G-TOMC. She’s now in the process of being restored to her USAAF original configuration as seen at Napier Field, complete with silver fuselage, yellow wings, checkerboard cowling and United States national insignia.
It’s been a long and winding journey, which, when complete, will place the former Empire of the Sun movie prop at the heart of a growing collection of American piston-engine training aircraft operated from the UK.
In addition to the Texans, four restored P-51D Mustangs were used during the filming of Empire of the Sun, three of them belonging to The Fighter Collection and the other to The Old Flying Machine Company at Duxford Airfield, England. In one memorable scene, a P-51 piloted by New Zealand-born Squadron Leader Ray Hanna AFC & Bar makes a low pass, waving to Bale before an explosion engulfs the movie set.
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