Judd Miller - Author
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • WWII: A Virtual Tour
    • WWII Home
    • WWII Chronology >
      • 1939
      • 1940 >
        • Dunkirk (May/Jun 1940)
        • Battle of Britain (Jul-Oct 1940)
      • 1941 >
        • Pearl Harbor (Dec 1941)
        • Battle for Wake Island (Dec 1941)
        • Java Sea Campaign (Dec 1941-Feb 1942)
      • 1942 >
        • Tokyo Raid (Apr 1942)
        • Battle of Midway (Jun 1942)
        • Battle of Guadalcanal (Aug 1942-Feb 1943)
      • 1943
      • 1944 >
        • D-Day (Jun 1944)
        • Battle of the Philippine Sea (Jun 1944)
        • Operation Market Garden (Sep 1944)
        • Battle of the Huertgen Forest (Sep-Dec 1944)
        • Battle of the Bulge (Dec 1944-Jan 1945)
      • 1945
      • Post-WWII
    • Special Topics >
      • Espionage
      • The Holocaust >
        • Sobibor
      • Militaries >
        • Canadian Military
        • German Military >
          • Heer (German Army)
          • Kriegsmarine (German Navy)
          • Luftwaffe (German Air Force)
        • Soviet Military
        • United Kingdom Military
        • United States Military >
          • United States Coast Guard
          • United States Navy
      • Special Operations >
        • Operation Creek (Mar 1943)
      • Vehicles >
        • Aircraft >
          • B-29 Super-Fortress
          • Mitsubishi A6M Zero
          • P-51 Mustang
        • Ships & Vessels >
          • Aircraft Carriers >
            • USS Lexington
          • Destroyers
          • Submarines
      • Weapons >
        • Atomic Bomb
        • Guns
    • Places >
      • Africa
      • Asia >
        • Philippines
      • Europe >
        • The Arctic
        • France
        • Germany >
          • Berlin
        • Greenland
        • Italy
        • Russia (USSR)
      • South America
      • Atlantic Ocean
      • Pacific Ocean
    • People >
      • Winston Churchill
      • Adolf Eichmann
      • Adolf Hitler
      • Franklin Delano Roosevelt
      • Erwin Rommel
      • Albert Speer
Home | Special Topics | Vehicles | Aircraft

Mitsubishi A6M Zero

"The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was designated as the Mitsubishi Navy Type 0 carrier fighter (rei-shiki-kanjō-sentōki), or the Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen. The A6M was usually referred to by its pilots as the Reisen (zero fighter), "0" being the last digit of the imperial year 2600 (1940) when it entered service with the Imperial Navy. The official Allied reporting name was "Zeke", although the use of the name "Zero" (from Type 0) was used colloquially by the Allies as well.

​The Zero is considered to have been the most capable carrier-based fighter in the world when it was introduced early in World War II, combining excellent maneuverability and very long range. The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) also frequently used it as a land-based fighter.
In early combat operations, the Zero gained a legendary reputation as a dogfighter, achieving an outstanding kill ratio of 12 to 1, but by mid-1942 a combination of new tactics and the introduction of better equipment enabled Allied pilots to engage the Zero on generally equal terms. By 1943, due to inherent design weaknesses, such as a lack of hydraulic ailerons and rudder rendering it extremely unmaneuverable at high speeds, and an inability to equip it with a more powerful aircraft engine, the Zero gradually became less effective against newer Allied fighters. By 1944, with opposing Allied fighters approaching its levels of maneuverability and consistently exceeding its firepower, armor, and speed, the A6M had largely become outdated as a fighter aircraft. However, as design delays and production difficulties hampered the introduction of newer Japanese aircraft models, the Zero continued to serve in a front-line role until the end of the war in the Pacific. During the final phases, it was also adapted for use in kamikaze operations. Japan produced more Zeros than any other model of combat aircraft during the war."

Source: Wikipedia
Books
Zero
Zero
© 2015-2019 Judd Miller