Mitsubishi A6M Zero, the legend!

Video from the channel Metal Mike Free Man about Mitsubishi A6M Zero, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 19:59. Language: Italian. Video type: Documentary.

The author, from his library, reviews the history of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, which he presents as the most famous Japanese fighter of the Second World War, drawing on photographs from a book by Luigino Caliaro.

The Zero, designed by Jiro Horikoshi, served throughout the war in carrier-based and land-based units of Japanese naval aviation and took part in the main battles of the Pacific. In its first months its superiority was unquestionable, and against it the British veterans of the Battle of Britain who accepted close combat suffered heavy losses. The Americans, starting with Chennault's Flying Tigers with their P-40s, responded with diving attacks from greater altitude and fleeing at full speed. The loss of veteran pilots at Midway, the great Marianas Turkey Shoot and the lack of a successor (the A7M Reppu reached only about ten units) ended its advantage, and in the end it was used in kamikaze attacks.

It was light, highly manoeuvrable, well armed and had great range, but it barely protected the pilot and had no self-sealing fuel tanks; the A6M5 version, from the second half of 1943, partly corrected these flaws. A December 1942 US intelligence report advised staying above 480 km/h and not engaging in close or vertical combat with it. Saburo Sakai's memoirs on the harshness of naval training are also cited.