US WWII fighter plane returned from Japan to go on display at New York museum

Parts from a US fighter aircraft that crashed in Japan during World War Two will be displayed in a museum in New York City from Friday.

The "Final Flight" exhibition at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum features the engine, propeller and part of a wing of the Corsair aircraft.

The museum says the plane took off from the USS Interpid on March 18, 1945, and is believed to have been shot down near Saiki City in the southwestern Japanese prefecture of Oita.

Fragments of the plane were reportedly found 50 years later in Saiki Bay, put on display in Saiki City, and returned to the United States in 2016 as a goodwill gesture.

The pilot's nephew, Dale Isley, said he had assumed for 78 years that the wreckage was never found, and it was overwhelming to learn about the recovery. He added he is grateful to the people of Saiki for taking good care of the remnants of the plane and getting it back to the US so it could be shared.