Zero

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A6M Zero
The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a long range fighter aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was usually referred to by the Allies as the "Zero"—a name that was frequently misapplied to other Japanese fighters, such as the Nakajima Ki-43—as well as other codenames and nicknames, including "Zeke", "Hamp" and "Hap".

When it was introduced early in World War II, the Zero was the best carrier-based fighter in the world, combining excellent maneuverability and very long range. In early combat operations, the Zero gained a legendary reputation as a "dogfighter", gaining the outstanding kill ratio of 12 to 1, but by 1942, a combination of new tactics and the introduction of better equipment enabled the Allied pilots to engage the Zero on more equal terms. The Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service (IJNAS) also frequently used the type as a land-based fighter. By 1943, inherent design weaknesses and the increasing lack of more powerful aircraft engines meant that the Zero became less effective against newer enemy fighters that possessed greater firepower, armor, speed, and approached the Zero's maneuverability. Although the Mitsubishi A6M was outdated by 1944, it was never totally supplanted by the newer Japanese aircraft types. During the final years of the War in the Pacific, the Zero was used in kamikaze operations.

Operational history
The first Zero (pre-series A6M2) were operative in July 1940. On 13 September 1940, the Zeros scored their first air-to-air victories when 13 A6M2s led by Lieutenant Saburo Shindo attacked 27 Soviet-built Polikarpov I-15s and I-16s of the Chinese Nationalist Air Force, shooting down all the fighters for no losses. Before they were redeployed a year later, the Zeros had shot down 99 Chinese aircraft (266 according to other source).

At the time of Pearl Harbor, there were 420 Zeros active in the Pacific. The carrier-borne Model 21 was the type encountered by the Americans, often much further from its carriers than expected, with a mission range of over 2,600 km (1,600 mi). Thanks to a combination of excellent maneuverability and firepower, the Zero easily disposed of the motley collection of Allied aircraft sent against it in the Pacific in 1941, while its tremendous range allowed it to appear over distant battlefronts and give Allied commanders the belief there must be several times as many Zeros as there actually were. So the Zero quickly gained a great reputation. However, the Zero failed to achieve complete air superiority due to the development of suitable tactics and new aircraft by the Allies. During World War II, the Zero destroyed at least 1,550 American aircraft.

The Japanese ace Saburo Sakai described how the resilience of early Allied aircraft was a factor in preventing the Zeros from attaining total domination: Designed for attack, the Zero gave precedence to long range, maneuverability, and firepower at the expense of protection—most had no self-sealing tanks or armor plate—thus many Zeros and their pilots were too easily lost in combat. During the initial phases of the Pacific conflict, the Japanese trained their aviators far more strenuously than their Allied counterparts. Thus, unexpectedly heavy pilot losses at the Coral Sea and Midway made them difficult to replace.

With the extreme agility of the Zero, the Allied pilots found that the appropriate combat tactic against it was to remain out of range and fight on the dive and climb. By using speed and resisting the deadly error of trying to out-turn the Zero, eventually cannon or heavy machine guns (.50 caliber) could be brought to bear and a single burst of fire was usually enough to down it. Such "boom-and-zoom" tactics were successful in the China Burma India Theater (CBI) against similarly maneuverable Japanese Army aircraft such as the Nakajima Ki-27 and Ki-43 by the "Flying Tigers" of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). AVG pilots were trained to exploit the advantages of their P-40s; very sturdy, heavily armed, generally faster in a dive and in level flight at low altitude, with a good rate of roll.

Another important maneuver was then-Lieutenant Commander John S. "Jimmy" Thach's "Thach Weave", in which two fighters would fly about 60 m (200 ft) apart. When a Zero latched onto the tail of one of the fighters, the two planes would turn toward each other. If the Zero followed its original target through the turn, it would come into a position to be fired on by his target's wingman. This tactic was used to good effect at the Battle of the Coral Sea, at the Battle of Midway, and over the Solomon Islands.

The American military discovered many of the A6M's unique attributes when they recovered the Akutan Zero—a mostly-intact specimen on Akutan Island in the Aleutians. Flight Petty Officer Tadayoshi Koga was losing oil and attempted an emergency landing, but the Zero flipped over in soft ground and the pilot died of head wounds. The relatively undamaged fighter was shipped to North Air Station, North Island, San Diego. Subsequent testing of the repaired A6M revealed not only its strengths, but also its deficiencies in design and performance.

When the powerful P-38 Lightning, F6F Hellcat, and F4U Corsair appeared in the Pacific theater, the A6M, with its low-powered engine, lost its competitiveness. In combat with an F6F or F4U, the only positive thing that could be said of the Zero at this stage of the war was that in the hands of a skillful pilot it could maneuver as well as most of its opponents. But the ever-decreasing number of experienced Japanese aviators became a significant factor in Allied successes.

Nonetheless, until the end of the war, in competent hands, the Zero could still be deadly. Due to the scarcity of high-powered aviation engines and problems with planned successor models, the Zero remained in production until 1945, with over 11,000 of all variants produced.