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The Zero was the main
fighter aircraft of the Japanese Navy throughout the Pacific
War. It is considered to have been the most
capable carrier-based fighter in the world when it was
introduced early in World War II.
The designer
sacrificed armour protection for pilots along with self sealing
fuel tanks and an array of weight saving measures all in the
name of creating a high speed, light weight, long range and
highly manoeuvrable aircraft. Known as the ‘Zeke’, it did in
fact achieve the designer’s goals. The nimble fighter was armed
with two 7.7 mm machine guns and two wing-mounted 20mm cannon.
With the use of a streamlined drop tank, the Zero had a range of
3000 km and was well liked by its pilots for of its phenomenal
rate of climb and other attributes.
Zeros made short work
of the allies’ obsolete fighter aircraft in the early stages of
the Pacific campaign and it soon gained a feared reputation as a
dangerous and lethal foe. However, as the US gradually brought
in more advanced and heavily armed designs such as the F4U
Corsair and F6F Grumman Hellcat, the shortcomings in the Zero’s
design began to show. Better and more advanced fighters to
take on the Zero however were not the sole answer to winning in
combat. It took Allied fighter pilots some time to develop
tactics that gave them an advantage.
The model exhibited
was flown by Lieutenant Shigeru Itaya of the Akagi Carrier
Fighter Group. Shigeru Itaya was the Group Leader in the first
wave of Zeros along with the bombers and torpedo bombers that
attacked Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941.
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