Nine wrecked Japanese Mitsubishi Zeros were recovered after Pearl Harbor and were studied as well.
Sadly, the Akutan Zero was destroyed in a training accident in February 1945. While it was taxiing for a takeoff, a Curtis Helldiver lost control and rammed into it. The Helldiver's propeller sliced the Zero into pieces.
From the wreckage, several gauges were salvaged and donated to the National Museum of the United States Navy. The Alaska Heritage Museum and Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum also have some pieces of it.
A search was led to Akutan Island in 1988 in an attempt to find Ensign Koga's remains. It was found that the remains had been exhumed by an American Graves Registration Service team in 1947 and reburied at Adak Island, further down the Aleutian Chain.
The team, unaware of Koga's significance or identity, marked him as unknown. The Adak cemetery was excavated in 19553 and the 236 bodies returned to Japan. The unidentified remains were cremated and it is likely that is what happened to Koga.
--GreGen
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