Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero (Model 21)

Every gram saved

The navy wanted an aircraft with both a long range and the agility of a land-based fighter. Jiro Horikoshi achieved it by saving weight: a thin, light alloy in the fuselage and wing, as few parts as possible, no pilot armour and no self-sealing tanks. The name “Zero” comes from the last digit of the Japanese imperial year 2600, the year it was adopted; the Allied code name was “Zeke”.

Early in the war

In its first combat, over China in September 1940, the Zero shot down many Chinese fighters without loss. At Pearl Harbor in December 1941, and then from the Philippines to the Indian Ocean, it outclassed Allied fighters. In a slow turning fight it was almost impossible to catch.

When its weaknesses were found

A Zero captured almost intact in the Aleutian Islands in July 1942 was studied from end to end in the United States. Allied pilots learned not to turn with it but to dive from above, strike and leave; the “Thach Weave”, devised by the US Navy’s John Thach, in which two fighters scissored to cover each other, proved very effective against it.

At high speed its ailerons became very heavy, and in a dive it could not keep up with the heavier American fighters. With no armour and no self-sealing tanks, a few hits were enough to bring it down. Towards the end of the war many Zeros were used in kamikaze attacks.