Mitsubishi A6M Reisen (Zero,
fighter Type 0) was the only carrier borne fighter of the Imperial
fleet during the Second World War. In the beginning of the war it
surpassed all Allied fighters by far, but by the end of it the fighter
became hopelessly obsolete. Its advantages – high agility and long range
of flight – caused its disadvantages, which were low speed and poor combat
durability. Because of these, a lot of skilled pilots burned like torches
in the meat grinder of the Pacific front. The last machines were piloted
by kamikazes, mostly young boys barely trained to fly, who perished
like fiery meteors in the battles with the US Navy fleets in 1945. Nevertheless, Zero became
the most famous Japanese aircraft of the Pacific war and the symbol of the
Imperial air power.
At the beginning of the Pacific war the US and Allies
seriously underestimated the Japanese aviation potential, largely due to
the effective disinformation of the Japanese counterespionage. It was considered
that the Japanese air force consisted of outdated copies of foreign aircraft,
slow and poorly armed. The main carrier borne fighter was thought to be Mitsubishi
A5M (Navy carrier borne fighter Type 96, by the
Allied name Claude) – the first carrier borne monoplane
fighter of home design (1935). Although I-96 (the index
under which A5M was
known in the USSR) had managed to cause significant damage in Halkhin-Gol
and Hasan lake battles against the Soviet aircrafts, in late 1941 it was
hopelessly inferior to enemy planes in speed and armament. Claire Chennault, the US “Flying Tigers” commander, reported seeing the
new “invincible” Japanese aircraft, which were superior to Curtiss
P-40 Hawk in
all characteristics, in China in 1940. The US High Command should have listened
to Chennault, as he was speaking about Zero!
Jiro Horikoshi was the lead
designer of both Claude and Zero
fighters. Saburo Sakae was one of the most famous
Japanese aces (he shot down more enemy aircraft than any other Japanese pilot,
among those who survived the war). He started his career flying on a Claude (he
brought down one I-16 and
one SB-2 in 1938-39 over China), and continued fighting in the
Pacific war on a Zero, accounting for 60 victories. On August
7, 1942, in a single combat flight to Rabaul, he downed one Wildcat fighter,
one Dauntless dive bomber, and attacked the group of eight Avenger torpedo
bombers on the way back. Saburo Sakae managed to damage
two Avengers, before receiving head, arm and leg wounds from
12.7 mm Allied machine guns. It took him 5 hours to get back to the base, as
he was losing consciousness due to pain and blood loss, yet he managed
to land his Zero anyway. Unfortunately, he lost his right eye
and became a flight instructor. Rarely he was allowed into combat missions. He
downed three Hellcats
F6F in
June of 1944, piloting a Zero. His last, 64th victory (over
a
B-32 Dominator surveillance
aircraft) came on August 17, 1945. Sakae was piloting Kawanishi
N1K2-J Shiden-Kai interceptor. Both Jiro Horokoshi and Saburo
Sakae left memoirs that let us look at the Pacific war from the
Japanese point of view ([1], [2]).
Saburo Sakai's A5M2 #107, 1938
A6M2 Model 11 over China, 1940
Mitsubishi was awarded the contract on the development
of the new carrier borne fighter to replace A5M in late
1937. Nakajima dropped out of the competition, as they considered the specifications
of 12-Shi to be impossible. The High Command ordered the new fighter to possess
twice the flight range of A5M (for bombers support), heavy
cannon armament, higher speed and climb rate (for interception of enemy bombers),
retaining the agility and take-off / landing characteristics of A5M at
the same time. Jiro Horikoshi considered this possible
at the cost of well-calculated weight reduction. The prototype, 12-Shi,
equipped with Mitsubishi Zucei-13 engine, offering 875 hp for take-off, took
its first flight on April 1, 1939. It was followed by a quite successful A6M1.
But it was the third prototype, designated A6M2 and fitted
with the more powerful Nakajima Sakae-12 engine (950 hp), which completely
satisfied both the designer and the Navy. Mitsubishi would have preferred
using an even more powerful engine, their own Kinsey, but it would mean speed
at the cost of maneuverability, because Kinsey engine was much heavier. The
Navy Command could not accept this shortcoming at the time.
The tests of A6M2 started on December
28, 1939. The pilots were delighted by the new aircraft. The Navy
carrier borne fighter Type 00 Model 11 (A6M2) was officially adopted
by the Navy on July 31, 1940. The Japanese called it Reisen (abbreviation
of “fighter type 0”). The Allies, after much confusion with different modifications
indexes, invented the code name Zeke, while pilots preferred
the simple name of Zero. Already on July 21, 1940 15
models were sent to China for combat tests. The first victories were achieved
on August 19. Twelve A6M2 supported bombers, when they came
under attack from 27 Chinese I-15's and I-16's. The
Japanese shot down all of the attackers without losing a single aircraft.
During the whole year of the Chinese war none of the Zeroes were
destroyed above enemy territory. This may explain why US knew nothing about
the aircraft. Starting with the 65th machine in November of 1940, the new Model
21 was put
into production, equipped with fold-out
wing tips, which allowed Zero to fit on the carrier
lift. By the start of the war Mitsubishi had manufactured 440 Zeroes,
but in spring of 1941 the Navy already awarded an additional order for the
production of A6M2 Mod. 21 to Nakajima.
A6M2
A6M2 was a compact and light full-metal
low wing monoplane of traditional configuration with retractable chassis
and closed droplet-shaped cockpit. Its armament was equal to that of the
best fighters of the time: two low-caliber synchronized machine guns and
two 20-mm cannons Type
99 in wings (the same as Messerschmitt Bf-109E-3
Oerlikons). The weight of the construction was highly economical.
The aircraft was fitted with three fuel tanks, two in the wings and one between
the engine and the cockpit. The tanks had incredible capacity and no armour,
which allowed for weight reduction and volume increase. The cockpit was
not protected. Zero's outstanding agility helped the aircraft
to avoid the attacks of inexperienced Allied pilots. However, with the invention
of the hit-and-run tactics in mid-1943, the Allies began attacking Zero fighters
at high-speed dives without engaging in maneuver dogfights. Zero did
not possess the same dive speed: its large ailerons, highly effective at
small speeds, became too heavy at high speeds, and Zero lost
roll handling. The elevator, on the contrary, became too effective at high
speeds, causing the aircraft to fall apart because of overload. Lastly, the
covering jarred, and rudders flattered at dives, which could
destroy the machine due to accelerative forces. Nevertheless, Zero kept
dominance in the Pacific war during the first months.
By December 7, 1941 all battle carriers were equipped
with A6M2Zero fighters. The only units
left with A5M4 were three light second-line carriers and
several Burma and Singapore regiments. The six battle carriers of the First
Air Fleet, which had destroyed the US fleet in Pearl Harbor (Akagi, Kaga, Hirue, Soryu, Shokaku, Zuikaku),
were fitted with 18 A6M2 each. The air crew consisted of
skilled pilots with battle experience gained in China and Indonesia. The
first wave of bombers, torpedo bombers and diving bombers was supported by
43 Zero. Having met no resistance at Hawaii, Zero fighters
assaulted the airfields. They destroyed over a hundred aircraft on land
and in bays, and shot down four machines in air combat: one SBD-3 Dauntless dive
bomber of the Enterprise (hundreds of miles away from the
islands) and three P-40C Hawks, which
had taken off on alert from Bellows airdrome. The only US aircraft to shoot
down the enemy were four P-40B from a faraway Haleiwa airfield.
They made two flights each and destroyed 5 Japanese airplanes. The only Zero lost
was downed by AA guns. The US aviation was completely suppressed. However,
the US gunners came prepared for the second wave and managed to destroy 8
out of the 36 Zero. Overall, the Japanese lost 29 aircrafts
out of 353, of which only 7 were downed by US fighters. As for the US aircrafts,
only 43 out of 390 survived, while the battle fleet was completely destroyed.
A6M2 on
Shokaku deck in the morning of 12.07.1941
Zero takes off Akagi heading for Pearl Harbor in the morning of 12.07.1941
Several hours later the Japanese bombers destroyed Clark
and Iba airbases on Philippines. The 84 supporting Zeroes shot
down 15 US aircraft and began aiding in the assault. Saburo
Sakae damaged
two Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses on
land and shot down one Hawk, thus opening his score of victories
over US pilots. The flight from Formosa to Luzon and back took over 10 hours.
The enormous battle range of Zero was due not only to its
design, but also to the skills of pilots who treasured every drop
of fuel. Two days later Sakae shot down his first Fortress,
and was unpleasantly surprised with its durability and fire power.
The next operation of the carrier-borne A6M2 was
the attack of Australian Port Darwin by four battle carriers. On February
15, 1942, Zeroes destroyed 8 aircraft in air-to-air combat
and 15 aircraft on land without losing a single machine. In March and April
the Japanese carriers defeated the British fleet in Indian ocean. On April
5, 1942, 36 Zero,
part of the 180-machine strong battle group, downed 31 British aircraft,
while losing only 18. The Allied commanders and pilots were shocked at the
seeming invincibility of the Zero. It was only after the
successful defense of Midway that they managed to overcome this shock. Still,
even the Battle of Midway started on June 4, 1942 by victory of 26 Zero over
27 US Marine fighters. A6M2 downed or damaged virtually
all the attackers without losses among their escorted bombers. Another
36 Zero protecting
the Japanese fleet successfully repelled the first attacks of the US torpedo
bombers and divebombers, albeit with heavy losses. But when Enterprise's and Yorktown's SBD-3 Dauntless divebombers
attacked the Japanese carriers Sorue, Akagi and Kaga, Zero fighters
did not have time to react, because at the same time the pilots were busy
fighting the US torpedo bombers at low altitudes. The carriers were sunk.
At that very moment 10 Japanese torpedo bombers with escort of 6 Zeroes attacked Yorktown.
The 12 Wildcats finally managed to down 5 B5N2 and
3 A6M2 because of numeric advantage and higher experience
of Yorktown's pilots, although Yorktown sunk
as well. The attack of the Japanese at Midway was stopped, and dozens of
aircraft along with their pilots died in the fire on carrier decks and in
ocean waters, having run out of fuel. The death of many Japanese aces let
the US fleet feel more at ease. However, A6M2 continued
dominating air combat.
A6M2 on Dsuikaku deck, The Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942
A6M2 on
Shokaku deck, The Battle of Santa Cruz Island, 10.26.1942
