The filming of a Walt Disney Co. movie about Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor was disrupted again earlier this week when a second replica Japanese warplane was involved in an accident, according to media reports from Honolulu on Wednesday.
In the latest accident, a replica of a Zero fighter, Japan's principal fighter aircraft during World War II, crash-landed Monday on Ford Island in the harbor, the site of Japan's Dec. 7, 1941, surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet, according to the reports. The $135 million World War II action-romance film is being shot on location.
The plane reportedly lost some of its landing gear while in flight and scraped its propeller and wings when touching down on the runway. The pilot was not injured.
Filming started April 4 and all filming in the harbor is scheduled to end Thursday, Walt Disney said.
On April 17, a replica of another World War II Japanese plane crashed on the same island during filming.
The U.S.-built trainer aircraft, modified to resemble a wartime Japanese dive bomber, crashed near the runway after clipping a palm tree. Its stunt pilot suffered a broken finger, lacerations and bruises.
Meanwhile, a group of U.S. veterans is strongly opposed to a plan by the film's production team to use the USS Lexington, a decommissioned aircraft carrier, in the movie as a wartime Japanese carrier.
Walt Disney said it plans to release the movie, called "Pearl Harbor," in 2001 on the 60th anniversary of the attack.
Few tourists visit Ford Island today, where the runway and barracks bearing bullet holes from the 1941 attack remain.