Summary

Japanese Imperial Navy Mitsubishi A6M Zero engine valve from a Nakajima Sakae radial engine. Donor states it came from the first Japanese aircraft shot down in New Guinea. If this statement is accurate then the valve may be from a Zero flown by Petty Officer Katsuro Nagatomo of the Imperial Japanese Navy 4th Air Group who was shot down by ground fire by members of the 39th Battalion AMF over Bootless Inlet near Port Moresby on 28 February 1942. Nagatomo was wounded, burned and bailed out of his crippled aircraft, parachuting into the water. He was captured and sent to Laverton in Victoria for medical treatment and to Queensland for subsequent interrogation. He was transferred to the No 12 POW Camp, Cowra in 1943 and later took part in the August 1944 'Cowra Breakout' during which he was shot in the chest and killed.

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