Mitsubishi A6M Reisen "Zeke" / "Zero-Sen"

[David]

When the Mitsubishi A6M Reisen was first produced, it became the first carrier-based fighter aircraft to hold the advantage over any land-based warplane of the time. The A6M was synonymous with the Axis war effort in the Pacific, garnering such nicknames as "Zero" and "Zeke" from her competing Allied pilots. The system would prove so devastating that it would not be until a full production version fell into Allied hands for extensive research that her structural design weaknesses would be realized - and thusly, the downfall of the dominant "Zero" was at hand.
The A6M was a pre-war design, conceived of as early as 1937 to fulfill a Japanese Navy requirement for a carrier-based fighter capable of exceeding 310 miles per hour with a superior rate of climb (9,840 feet in 3.5 minutes or less was the official requirement). Superior handling and close-support maneuverability were also demanded of this new creation. At the time, all these requirements were a considerable feat for any engineering firm to handle but the Japanese Navy found itself looking for a capable replacement for its aging A5M carrier fighters. Carrier-based combat was still, for the most part, in its infancy - but the battles in the Pacific during World War Two would see to change all that.
With the Mitsubishi Corporation, led by designer/engineer Jiro Horikoshi, being the single company stepping forward to handle the challenge, engineers set to work on the A6M series. The system was a single-engine, single-pilot aircraft with a straight-wing low-monoplane design and smooth fuselage features. Armed with an array of 2 x 20mm cannons in the wings and an additional 2 x 7.7mm machine guns in a top-fuselage mounted position in the nose (just forward of the cockpit canopy), the system was extremely well armed for the time. The first prototype model was completed by March 16, 1939 and first flown on April 1st of that year with an underpowered Mitsubishi Zuisei engine. The Japanese Navy formally accepted her into service on September 14, 1939.
A brief understanding in Japanese culture of the time is expected here as the designation of the A6M model bears its result. Typically, models were assigned the last two digits of the first year of production. Thusly in 1940, the Japanese calendar would read "2600", making the A6M the designation of "Type-00", or "Zero-sen". As such, the Allies would go on to dub her as simply "Zero".
The A6M was quick to prove its superiority over land-based counterparts. Production models featured a vastly superior Nakajima Sakae powerplant which helped to bring the A6M the performance that was expected of the airframe. Early production models were rushed to the front versus China in an effort to quell the ever-growing resistance there. This particular air group of about 15 Zeros dominated the skies early and often against the ill-equipped Chinese pilots. Without much thought given to this new emerging carrier-based threat, United States military planners continued with their status quo assumptions of Japanese power and technology capability. This was to be sorely realized in the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, when Zeros would be unveiled to the unsuspecting Pacific hub city of Honolulu.
Through the opening salvos of the Pacific War with America, the Zero would be included in most every major confrontation. The engineering prowess of the A6M allowed the system to out-turn, out-distance and out-fight all major rivals - British, Australian and American fighters - throughout the Pacific - even the mighty RAF Hawker Hurricanes. It would not be until 1942 that the United States would capture a fully-working version of the the A6M and ship her back to the States for extensive testing. Testing revealed some dire limitations in the system that Allied pilots and engineers could now use against the A6M series should they next meet.
With refinements made to Allied tactics and the warplanes themselves, pilots took to the skies against the A6Ms in the Battle of Midway during June of 1942. Allied pilots were able to take their new-found knowledge and apply them in the downing of many A6M5s during the battle - which by this time, the A6Ms were still roughly the same initial design as found in the late 1930s. Newer, faster and more powerful Allied fighters would continue to take the mantle away from the Zeros until the series was removed from its spot at the top as the best fighter in the Pacific skies.
Such was the demise of the Zero, though there was still some value held in the airframe, that the A6M series would be tagged to produce kamikaze suicide squadrons for deadly attacks on Allied ships. Even with the newer and more powerful Kinsei engines in the A6M8, generating an impressive 1,560 horsepower, the A6M could still not compete with Allied warplanes, necessitating the need to arm them with bombs in the suicide role. Sadly, the A6M series would make up the bulk of the kamikaze squadrons for the Japanese Navy - a sign that the end of the Empire's reign in the sun was coming to an end.
In the end, the A6M series - by now produced in a variety of subset variants - proved to be the best of the Japanese warplanes for a short time, particularly early in the Pacific Theater. Of all of the Japanese-produced aircraft during the war, the A6M "Zero" holds the distinction as being the most produced with numbers running over 10,000 aircraft by Mitsubishi, Sasebo, Hitachi the Nakajima firms. It would also hold the dubious distinction of being the symbol of the Kamikaze - both terrifying and terrible - signifying a beaten down aircraft from a nation destined to lose its war time holdings in the Pacific.
Specifications for the Mitsubishi A6M Reisen "Zeke" / "Zero-sen":

Designation: Mitsubishi A6M Reisen
Manufacturer: Mitsubishi - Japan
Powerplant: 1 x Nakajima NK1C Sakae 21 14-cylinder two-row radial piston engine generating 1,130hp.
Length: 29 feet, 9 inches
Wing Span: 36 feet, 1inch
Weight: 4,136lbs (empty); 6,025lbs (Maximum Take-Off Weight)
Maximum Speed: 354 mph
Maximum Range: 1,200 miles (with optional drop tanks)
Armament: 2 x 20mm cannons in wing mounts; 2 x 7.7mm machine guns in upper-nose fuselage mountings. OPTIONAL 2 x 132lb bombs on underwing rack mountings.
Crew: 1
Models:
A6M1 - Prototype Model Designation; fitted with the Mitsubishi Zuisei 13 radial piston engine generating 780 horsepower.
A6M2 - Initial Production Model Designation; fitted with Nakajima Sakae 12 radial piston engine generating 950 horsepower.
A6M2-N - Naval Floatplane Variant; dubbed "Rufe" by the Allies.
A6M3 - Two-stage supercharged Sakae engine; produced without the folding wingtips for naval carrier storage.
A6M5 - Fitted with Sakae 21 radial piston engine with an improved exhaust system; multiple sub-variants of A6M5 produced.
A6M6 - Water-methanol boosted Sakae 31 engine.
A6M7 - Fighter / Dive-Bomber Hybrid Model.
More Pictures of the Mitsubishi A6M Reisen "Zeke" / "Zero-sen"