# Could a plane be shipped by train?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-plane-be-shipped-by-train/960839>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Tags:** ukraine-invasion\
**Created:** [March 10, 2022, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-plane-be-shipped-by-train/960839 "2022-03-10T16:53:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-plane-be-shipped-by-train/960839/41 "2022-03-17T22:06:55Z")

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Apparently it would have been possible for the Japanese to transport newly manufactured Zeros by train in WWII, except there were no railheads near the Mitsubishi plant. There was no airfield in the vicinity either. So they hauled them 24 miles overland using teams of oxen. When the oxen wore out, they switched to Percheron horses.

> **[Japan’s WWII war machine did not have enough machines](https://andrewbatson.com/2017/02/22/japans-wwii-war-machine-did-not-have-enough-machines/)**
>
> It is not a stirring description of valor in battle, but the following passage from Ian Toll’s The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944, the sequel to his excellent Pacific …

I suppose the they could use draft animals to get MIGs to Ukraine, but Polish PETA would raise hell.

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