Without a doubt, the Reissen or Zero Fighter is the most famous aircraft ever produced by Japanese industry. At the time of its debut in 1939, it was arguably the best fighter aircraft-- either carrier -- or land based -- in the world. Above all, it possessed unsurpassed maneuverabillity and range, while its firepower and speed were at least the equal of its contemporaries. Development of the Zero began in May of 1937. mitsubishi`s team was led by Chief Engineer Jiro Horikoshi, the man responsible for the Navy Type 96 Carrier Fighter (the A5M '' Claude''), itself a very successful plane. Horikoshi`s design for the new fighter was packed with features wich were inovations at the time; retratable landing gear, a fully enclosed cockpit, a variable-pitch propeller, segmented fuselage construction, a streamlined drop tank, wing-mounted 20mm cannon and more. The A6M1 prototype was completed in March 1939, and made its first flight in Apri. During testing, the prototype powered by a 780hp Zuisei engine, achieved a speed of 491km/h. This and its other performance characteristics all meet or exceeded the Navy`s requirements. Following testing, minor modifications (such as switching to a three blade propeller) were made and the aircraft was handed over to the Navy futher tests in September. Following commencement of the Navy`s testing, the third and following prototypes were fitted with the 940hp Nakajima Sakea 12 engine, further improving of the plane`s already exeptional performance. Compared to the Zusei-powered version, this type was 270mm longer and 19kg heavier, but top speed was boosted to 533,4km/h. altough the second prototype was lost in a unexplained accident in wich the plane came appart in mid-air, the Navy`s tests were otherwise completely succesful, and the Sakae-powered Zero was adopted by the Navy in July of 1940 becoming officaly known as the Navy Type Zero Carrier Fighter Model 11, or A6M2 (the name was resived in 1942 to A6M2a). Even prior to the plane`s offical adoption, fifteen pre-production examples had been sent to China for combat trials. These aircraft fulfilled the Navy`s hopes for the type. Together with production planes, they combined to shoot down 98 Chinese aircraft while losing just two of their own number to ground fire during on e combat in September. a total of 64 Model 11 Zeros were produced. Employed as land-based planes, these aircraft lacked carrier-use features such as tail hooks and folding wings. Beginning with the 67th aircraft, however, 50cm manual-folding wingtips, tail hook and other modifications were incorporated. This version of the Zero was adopted as the Model 21, or A6M2b. Nakajima Hikoki also begin their production of the plane with this model. It was the A6M2b wich spearheaded the Japanese successes at Pearl Harbour, Wake, the Phillipines and others, firmly establishing it as the most formidable fighter in the sky during early years of the Pacific War
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- (Shokaku) Fighter Group 1942
- 381st Naval Flying Group, 313th Fighter Squadron, Phillipine April 1944.
