 |
|
| Mitsubishi Zero A6M2-21 ZERO flown by Lt. Hideki Shingo of the 5th Koku-Sentai off SHOKAKU, during the attack on the ENTERPRISE. Battle of Santa Cruz, October 1942. A6M3 Model 22 of ZUIKAKU at Bouganville during early 1943. The overrall Light Gray has been heavilly smeared over with Dark Green. |
|
| FS2002/2004 | |
| JRLucariny FSDS V2.24 Model | |
| Download21/Download22 | |
| 2002/2003 | |
 |
A6M Zero-Sen The Mitsubishi A6M Zero-Sen legendary status mirrored the fortunes of the rising sun, in which four years, the sun would finally set. For the Japanese and its former enemies, the A6M was the symbol of Japanese air power. The A6M fighter marked the beginning of a new epoch in naval aviation and was the first shipboard fighter capable of surpassing land-based aircraft. With its tight turning radius, it was an extremely deadly weapon in a dogfight, and was famous for its ability to outmaneuver, Brewster F2A Buffaloes, Curtiss P-40s and Grumman F4F Wildcats. |
 |
As early as 1937, Claire Chennault, the author of 'The Role of Defensive Pursuit,' warned the USAAF about the dangers of Japanese air power. Apparently his warnings were ignored, as the superiority of the A6M was a complete surprise to the American forces. As leader of the Flying Tigers, Chennault constantly stressed to his pilots, 'Never try to turn with a Zero. Always get above the enemy and try to hit him with the first pass. Because of the A6Ms exceptional range and performance, it was to bear the brunt of the action, of almost every military engagement in the Pacific, until the end of the war. |
 |
The Navy submitted specifications for a new Navy Fighter on 19 May, 1937, to supersede the Mitsubishi A5M, Navy Type 96 Carrier Fighter, which had just become operational. The requirements called for were: 1. Maximum speed of 270 kt @ 4,000 m. 2. Climbing speed of 3,000 m in 9 min 30 sec. 3. Endurance of 1.5 to 2 hours at normal rated power. 4. Endurance of 6 to 8 hours at economical speed with drop tanks. 5. Armament of two 20 mm cannon and two 7.7 mm machine guns. 6. Provisions for two 60 kg bombs. 7. Provision for full radio and direction finder. 8. Takeoff run less than 70 m with a 27 knot headwind. 9. Maneuverability at least equal to the A5M. |
 |
The Navy ordered two prototypes and plans were submitted by Nakajima and Mitsubishi. Nakajima elected to drop their proposal for a fighter design and Mitsubishi submitted their design led by designer Jiro Horikoshi. The Mitsubishi prototype was the A6M1, retractable gear, all metal, low-wing monoplane, powered with a 780 hp Mitsubishi Zuisei 13 engine. During flight testing, the two-bladed prop variable-pitch propeller was replaced with a three-bladed variable pitch propeller. |
 |
Apart from maximum speed, all requirements were met or exceeded.5 The Navy had authorized the production of an initial batch of A6M2s and military trials progressed rapidly. While flight testing the A6M1, a new power plant passed its Navy acceptance tests, and the 925 hp Nakajima NK1C Sakae 12, which was slightly larger than the Zuisei, was installed in the third A6M2 prototype. The initial trials were completed in July 1940 and the navy assigned fifteen A6M2s to combat trials in China. In China the A6M2s, reinforced with a number of production aircraft, destroyed 99 Chinese aircraft with a loss of only two of their own. |
 |
The aircraft was accepted for production on July 1940 as Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter Model 11 and in September 1941 were prepared for the impending war with the Allies. Modifications were introduced during production and A6M2 rear spar was reinforced and manually folding wingtips were incorporated to allow clearance on the carriers deck elevators. The modified aircraft was designated Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter Model 21. The A6M2 Model 21 was the version utilized at Pearl Harbor and throughout the Pacific, during the early stages of the war. |
 |
The A6M possessed many shortcomings, which were only to be revealed six months later when a virtually intact specimen was obtained. On June 3, 1942, Flight Petty Officer Tadayoshi Koga left the flight deck of the carrier Ryujo in his Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 fighter as part of a task force assigned to attack Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands. His A6M2, which had been built in February, was on its first operational mission. On his way back to the Ryujo, Koga found that two bullets had punctured his fuel supply and he informed his flight commander that he intended to land on Akutan Island, designated as an emergency landing field. |
 |
Koga did not make the landing field and instead made a forced landing in a marsh where the aircraft flipped over, in which he was killed, from a broken neck. Five weeks later, a US Navy PBY Catalina, making a routine patrol, discovered the Japanese fighter upside down in the marsh. This single fighter was probably one of the greatest prizes of the Pacific war. Hardly damaged, it was shipped back to the USA where it was exhaustively tested. Information gathered during testing of the A6M2 prompted the American aircraft manufacturer Grumman, to lighten the Grumman F4F Hellcat, and install a larger engine on the Grumman F6F Hellcat. |
 |
Some Zeros were the first aircraft used intentionally as suicide attack planes. Modified Zeros assigned to Air Group 201 in the Philippines became the first Japanese aircraft used on planned suicide missions against American surface vessels. Air Group 201, assisted by volunteer pilots from Air Group 601 and other Navy units in the area, became the first Kamikaze (Divine Wind) suicide squadron in the Japanese Naval Air Force. The outstanding successes gained by this form of attack led to the formation of other Kamikaze units, and the bomb-carrying Zeros became the prime suicide attack bombers of the Navy. |
 |
More Zero-Sens were produced than any other wartime Japanese aircraft. Mitsubishi alone produced 3,879 aircraft of this type, Nakajima built 6,215 which, together with the 844 trainer and floatplane variants produced by Sasebo, Hitachi and Nakajima, brought the grand total of A6M series aircraft to 10,938. The Zero-Sen possessed complete mastery in the air over the Pacific until the Battle of Midway in June 1942, the actual turning point of the Pacific War although recognized by only a few at the time. |
 |
The value of the fighter steadily declined and its lowest point was reached when it was selected to lead the Navy's Air Force in mass suicide, and the Japanese nation followed. The installation of the Kinsei engine brought Zero-Sen closer to Allied standards attained at that stage in the war, but the moment for decision had passed and, with it, victory for the Allies had become a foregone conclusion. The fighter that started the Pacific war was no longer able to fight it--nor was the nation that conceived it. Link |
 |
A6M2 model 21 Function: fighter Year: 1940 Crew: 1 Engines: 1 * 925hp Nakajima Sakae 12 Wing Span: 12.00m Length: 9.06m Height: 3.05m Wing Area: 22.44m2 Empty Weight: 1680kg Speed: 533km/h Ceiling: 10300m Range: 3110km Armament: 2*g20mm 2*mg7.7mm |
 |
JRLucariny FS2002/2004 model FDE Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighter for CFS2. Design by Gerald Lindell, Lobo da Silva and Andre van Duin. Version 1.1.0, Copyright © Gerald Lindell, 14 Jan 2003 |
 |
DRAWINGS “A6M ZERO in action” Aircraft Number 59 squadron/signal publications COWL FLAPS Open CTRL+SHIFT+V Close CTRL+SHIFT+C |
 |
canopy Open SHIFT+E Close SHIFT+E |
 |
JRLucariny PANEL Custom Panel Designer Version 2.5 - ABACUS |
 |
Image of A6M2-21 ZERO "A6M ZERO in action" Aircraft Number 59 "squadron/signal publications. |
 |
A6M The Japanese Navy were among the pioneers in the use of carrier-borne fighter aircraft, launching the world's first true aircraft carrier in November 1921, preceding the British HMS Argus by several months. To equip this vessel, Mitsubishi developed the Type 10 fighter, the first designed specifically for carrier operation - naval aircraft of other nations at that time were adaptations of existing land-based fighters. The Type 10 served until 1929, when replaced by the Type 3 fighter, which was a Nakajima-built adaptation of the British Gloster Gambet. This aircraft was re-designated the A1N1 while in service, 'A' signifies carrier-based fighter, and 'N' denotes Nakajima manufacture. |
 |
The A1N1 was followed by the 1931 Nakajima Type 90 (A2N) biplane and the 1935 Type 95 (A4N) which was faster but less agile. Mitsubishi then reclaimed the market from Nakajima with the Type 96 (A5N) all-metal monoplane fighter. Replacing the earlier A2N and A4N biplanes, they were superior to all opposition aircraft encountered in the escalating war over the Chinese mainland. Equally as important, the Type 96 gave Japanese designers, engineers and craftsmen experience with techniques such as minimising drag, flush riveting, weight saving, and the installation of radial engines into high-speed airframes. |
 |
Construction of the first prototype began later that year and was completed in March 1939. With no provision for armour, lightness of airframe, and lack of heavy fittings, the prototype Type 0 weighed 43801b compared to the prototype Spitfire's 5332lb. Light weight and modest power gave long range and good performance, but meant that substantially heavier and more powerful engines could not be fitted without extensive redesign. As an offensive, rather than a defensive, weapon the Zero' s very success contained the seeds of its own downfall. |
 |
The prototype was declared ready for tests at Mitsubishi's Nagoya factory on 16th March 1939. Engine tests were run on the 18th, and the next day it was towed (by ox-cart!) to the airfield at Kagamigahara. Test pilot Katsuzo Shima lifted it off at 5.30pm on 1st April for the initial flight. After correction of braking and vibration problems, official tests of the A6M1 took place and a second, identical prototype was built. Apart from its lack of outright speed - 304mph instead of the required 315mph - all requirements were met, and the A6M1 was officially accepted by the Navy on the 14th September 1939. Its military designation became A6M1 Type 0 Carrier-borne Fighter. |
 |
The '0' was derived from the last digit of the Japanese calendar year in which the aircraft would be placed in full service, 2600 (equivalent to 1940); in Japanese this became Rei Shiki Sento Ki, Type Zero Fighter, often shortened to Rei-Sen or Reisen. During the 1940s, the Allies applied code-names to all known Japanese aircraft, and the A6M2 became 'Zeke', the later clip-wing A6@13-72 'Hamp', the A6M3-22 'Zeke Mark 2' and the A6M2-N floatplane version 'Rufe'. By this time the term 'Zero' was already popular (although British personnel in the Singapore/Malaya theatre initially knew them as 'Navy Noughts'), and even today people identify virtually any low-wing radial-engined Japanese fighter as a 'Zero'. |
 |
In order to solve the lack of speed in the A6M1, the A6M2 with the 940hp Nakajima Sakae 12 motor was designed, and 15 pre-production machines were dispatched to Hankow in China for operational trials on 21 July 1940. Sixteen months before Pearl Harbour, the Zero flew its first combat mission. Such was the superiority over the Chinese fighters that the Chinese refused to fight. Only two Zeros were lost to enemy activity in this period, shot down by anti- aircraft fire. Mitsubishi built another 47 A6M2 Model 11 aircraft by November 1940 before introducing the Model 21, which incorporated folding wingtips. |
 |
Under the 'Model' designation system, a change in the first digit denoted an airframe change, alteration of the second digit denoted an engine change. Thus the Model 'two one' showed that it differed structurally from the Model 'one one' but retained the same motor. The A6M2 Model 21 was the standard JNAF fighter at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbour, 328 of this model being amongst the 521 naval fighters on board the Japanese aircraft carriers at that time. |
 |
Further models of the A6M were introduced to overcome problems and design limitations, and to try to keep the superiority that the type enjoyed over contemporary Allied aircraft: A6M3 Model 22: Adding the original folding-tip wing to the Model 32 engine/body combination, and incorporating a 12 gallon fuel tank in each wing in an attempt to reclaim lost range. By the time the Model 22 reached production, the Model 52 was approaching operational status; thus the Model 22, appearing in combat after the Model 32, had a short operational life. 560 were built late 1942 and early 1943 (this figure is thought to include Nakajima production). Link JRLucariny FS2002/2004 model |
 |
A6M3 model 22 Wingspan 12.00m (39'4.5" ft) Wing area 22.44m^2 (241.55 ft^2) Length 11.0m (36'1") Weights: Empty 1,807kg (3,984 lb) Loaded 2,644kg (5,828 lb) Engines 1,130hp Nakajima Sakae 21 Max. Speed 336mph (561 km/h) Service Ceiling 11,050m (36,250 ft) Range With droptank: around 1,920km (1,200 miles) Military Load 2x 7.7mm & 2x 20mm machine guns in wings |
 |
FDE Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighter for CFS2. Design by Gerald Lindell, Lobo da Silva and Andre van Duin. Version 1.1.0, Copyright © Gerald Lindell, 14 Jan 2003. DRAWINGS “A6M ZERO in action” Aircraft Number 59 squadron/signal publications |
 |
COWL FLAPS Open CTRL+SHIFT+V Close CTRL+SHIFT+C canopy Open SHIFT+E Close SHIFT+E PANEL JRLucariny Custom Panel Designer Version 2.5 - ABACUS |
 |
Image of A6M3 Model 22 "A6M ZERO in action" Aircraft Number 59 "squadron/signal publications |
|
Your donation is very important Sua doação é muito importante |