A5M2b Claude "Over China"

In 1934, the Imperial Japanese Navy prepared a specification for an advanced fighter, requiring a maximum speed of 350 km/h (220 mph) at 3,000 m (9,840 ft) and able to climb to 5,000 m (16,400 ft) in 6.5
minutes. This specification produced designs from both Mitsubishi and Nakajima. Mitsubishi was assigned the task of designing the new fighter to a team lead by Jiro Horikoshi, who would be later responsible for the famous A6M Zero. The resulting design from Mitsubishi was designated as the Ka-14, was an all-metal low-wing fighter, with a thin elliptical inverted Gull wing that featured a fixed undercarriage. The aircraft far exceeded the requirements of the specification, with a maximum speed of 450 km/h (279 mph) being reached. The second prototype was fitted with a revised, ungulled wing, and after various changes to maximize maneuverability and reduce drag, it was ordered into production as the A5M series. The aircraft entered service in early 1937, and soon seeing action in pitched aerial battles at the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, including air-to-air battles with the Chinese Air Force's Boeing P-26C Model 281 "Peashooters" in what was the world's first-ever aerial dogfighting and kills between monoplane fighters built of mostly metal. The A5M series proved themselves the better of every aircraft they encountered, though the Mitsubishi team continued to improve the A5M, working through versions until the final A5M4, which added a ventral drop-tank for extended range. The Flying Tigers encountered the Type 96, although not officially, and one was shot down at Mingaldon airfield, Burma on 29 January 1942. Some A5Ms were still in service at the beginning of World War II in the Pacific. United States intelligence sources believed the A5M was still the primary Navy fighter, but they had already been replaced by the A6M Zero on first-line aircraft carriers and with the Tainan Air Group. Other Japanese carriers and air groups continued to use the A5M until production of the 'Zero' caught up with demand. The last combat actions with the A5M as a fighter took place at the Battle of the Coral Sea on 7 May 1942, when two A5Ms and four A6Ms of the Japanese carrier Shoho fought against the US planes that sunk their carrier. Most remaining airframes were used for kamikaze attacks in the closing months of the war.

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