The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a fighter aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) from 1940 to 1945. The origin of its official designation was that "A" signified a carrier-based fighter, "6" for the sixth such model built for the Imperial Navy, and "M" for the manufacturer, Mitsubishi. The A6M was usually referred to by the Allies as the " Zero "—a name that was frequently misapplied to other Japanese fighters, such as the Nakajima Ki-43—as well as other codenames and nicknames, including " Zeke ", " Hamp " and " Hap ".
When it was introduced early in World War II, the Zero was the best carrier-based fighter in the world, combining excellent maneuverability and very long range. In early combat operations, the Zero gained a legendary reputation as a "dogfighter," but by 1942, a combination of new tactics and the introduction of better equipment enabled the Allied pilots to engage the Zero on more equal terms. The Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service (IJNAS) also frequently used the type as a land-based fighter. By 1943, inherent design weaknesses and the increasing lack of more powerful aircraft engines meant that the Zero became less effective against newer enemy fighters that possessed greater firepower, armor, speed, and approached the Zero's maneuverability. Although the Mitsubishi A6M was outdated by 1944, it was never totally supplanted by the newer Japanese aircraft types. During the final years of the War in the Pacific, the Zero was used in kamikaze operations.
Design and development
The Mitsubishi A5M fighter was just starting to enter service in early 1937 when the Imperial Japanese Navy started looking for its eventual replacement. In May they issued specification 12-Shi for a new carrier-based fighter, sending it to Nakajima and Mitsubishi. Both firms started preliminary design work while they awaited more definitive requirements to be handed over in a few months.
Based on the experiences of the A5M in China, the Navy sent out updated requirements in October calling for a speed of 500 km/h (310 mph) at 4,000 m (13,120 ft) and a climb to 3,000 m (9,840 ft) in 3.5 min. They needed an endurance of two hours at normal power, or six to eight hours at economical cruising speed (both with drop tanks). Armament was to consist of two 20 mm cannons and two 7.7 mm (.303 in) machine guns and two 30 kg (70 lb) or 60 kg (130 lb) bombs. A complete radio set was to be mounted in all airplanes, along with a radio direction finder for long-range navigation. The maneuverability was to be at least equal to that of the A5M, while the wing span had to be less than 12 m (39 ft) to fit on the carriers. All this was to be achieved with such engines as were available at the time, which was another limitation (the Zero's power plant seldom reached 1,000 horsepower in any of its variants).
Nakajima's team considered the new requirements unachievable and pulled out of the competition in January. Mitsubishi's chief designer, Jiro Horikoshi, felt that the requirements could be met, but only if the aircraft could be made as light as possible. Every weight-saving method was used. Most of the airplane was built of T-7178 aluminum, a top-secret aluminum alloy developed by the Japanese just for this aircraft. It was lighter and stronger than the normal aluminum used at the time, but more brittle. In addition, no armor was carried for the pilot, engine or other critical points of the aircraft, and the self-sealing fuel tanks that were becoming common at the time were also left off. This made the Zero lighter and more agile than most other aircraft at the start of the war, but that also made it prone to catching fire and exploding when struck by enemy rounds.
With its low-wing cantilever monoplane layout, retractable wide-set landing gear and enclosed cockpit, the design was one of the most modern in the world. The Zero had a fairly high-lift, low-speed wing with a very low wing loading; combined with the light weight this gave it a very low stalling speed of well below 60 kn (110 km/h; 69 mph). This is the reason for the phenomenal turning ability of the airplane, allowing it to turn more sharply than any Allied fighter of the time. Roll rate is enhanced by servo tabs on the ailerons which deflect opposite to the ailerons and make the control force much lighter. The disadvantage is that they reduce the maximum roll effect at full travel. At 160 mph (260 km/h) the A6M2 had a roll rate of 56° per second. Because of wing flexibility, roll effectiveness dropped to near zero at about 483 km/h (300 mph) indicated airspeed.
Name
The A6M is universally known as the Zero from its Japanese Navy designation, Type 0 Carrier Fighter ( Rei shiki Kanjō sentōki , 零式艦上戦闘機), taken from the last digit of the Imperial year 2600 (1940), when it entered service. In Japan it was unofficially referred to as both Rei-sen and Zero-sen ; Japanese pilots most commonly called their plane Zero-sen .
The official Allied code name was " Zeke " in keeping with the practice of giving male names to Japanese fighters, female names to bombers, bird names to gliders and tree names to trainers."Zeke" was part of the first batch of "hillbilly" code names assigned by Captain Frank T. McCoy, of Tennessee, who wanted quick, distinctive, easy to remember names. When in 1942 the Allied code for Japanese aircraft was introduced, he logically chose "Zeke" for the "Zero." Later, two variants of the fighter, not immediately identified as such, received their own code names: the A6M2-N (floatplane version of the Zero) was called Rufe and the A6M3-32 variant was initially called Hap . After objections from General "Hap" Arnold, C/O of the USAAF, the name was changed to Hamp .
Operational history
The first Zero (pre-series A6M2) were operative in July 1940. On 13 September 1940, the Zeros scored their first air-to-air victories when 13 A6M2s led by Lieutenant Saburo Shindo attacked 27 Soviet-built Polikarpov I-15s and I-16s of the Chinese Nationalist Air Force, shooting down all the fighters for no losses. Before they were redeployed a year later, the Zeros had shot down 99 Chinese aircraft (266 according to other sources).
At the time of Pearl Harbor, there were 420 Zeros active in the Pacific. The carrier-borne Model 21 was the type encountered by the Americans, often much further from its carriers than expected, with a mission range of over 2,600 km (1,600 mi). Thanks to a combination of excellent maneuverability and firepower, the Zero easily disposed of the motley collection of Allied aircraft sent against it in the Pacific in 1941, while its tremendous range allowed it to appear over distant battlefronts and give Allied commanders the belief there must be several times as many Zeros as there actually were. So the Zero quickly gained a great reputation. However, the Zero failed to achieve complete air superiority due to the development of suitable tactics and new aircraft by the Allies. During World War II, the Zero destroyed at least 1,550 American aircraft.
The Japanese ace Saburo Sakai described how the resilience of early Allied aircraft was a factor in preventing the Zeros from attaining total domination:
Designed for attack, the Zero gave precedence to long range, maneuverability, and firepower at the expense of protection—most had no self-sealing tanks or armor plate—thus many Zeros and their pilots were too easily lost in combat. During the initial phases of the Pacific conflict, the Japanese trained their aviators far more strenuously than their Allied counterparts. Thus, unexpectedly heavy pilot losses at the Coral Sea and Midway made them difficult to replace.
With the extreme agility of the Zero, the Allied pilots found that the appropriate combat tactic against it was to remain out of range and fight on the dive and climb. By using speed and resisting the deadly error of trying to out-turn the Zero, eventually cannon or heavy machine guns (.50 caliber) could be brought to bear and a single burst of fire was usually enough to down it. Such "boom-and-zoom" tactics were successful in the China Burma India Theater (CBI) against similarly maneuverable Japanese Army aircraft such as the Nakajima Ki-27 and Ki-43 by the "Flying Tigers" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). AVG pilots were trained to exploit the advantages of their P-40s; very sturdy, heavily armed, generally faster in a dive and in level flight at low altitude, with a good rate of roll.
Another important maneuver was then-Lt Cdr John S.
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