The Mitsubishi A6M Zero-Sen
The "Zeke" or
"Zero" to the Allies
The Zero was the emerging standard fighter for
the Japanese at the beginning of their Pacific campaign; it was fairly
new (having first flown in 1939) but not so new the U.S. didn't know
about it - it had seen action in China and elsewhere long before it was
used against the Americans. Even so American armed forces severely
underestimated the A6M and that mistake caused considerable problems -
it's primary opponents in the early war, the F4F Wildcat, the P40, and
the lamentable P39, were heavily outclassed by the Zero.
The wide disparity in plane ability forced a
quick adoption of new air to air tactics by the American pilots; the
famous "Thatch weave" for instance, which was effective but
required two to one engagement odds, close wingman contact, and was
fairly risky even so. More commonly Americans took to a simple
philosophy echoed by pilot biographies throughout the era; engage with
altitude, engage with numbers, and when compromised immediately dive to
safety (a singular weakness of the Zero was high speed diving).
This confused the Japanese, who by and large
considered air combat almost an art form which matched the wits and
ability of one pilot against another.
This
was mirrored in the very design of the Zero; it was at the time the
ultimate "dogfight" style plane, exhibiting superb turning
capability, good range, and excellent power - at the price of
durability, low offensive armament, and very limited payload or bombing
options. If American pilots had attempted to engage the Japanese on a
level playing field, so to speak, they would have been slaughtered, both
by the superior design and better training at the onset of the war the
Japanese enjoyed.
Unfortunately for the Japanese the features
they designed their premier fighter for were quickly obsolete in the air
war. Having demonstrated the validity of their new tactics in combat,
the U.S. armed forces began making planes to better utilize them, and
training their pilots extremely well in how to do it. Against a supreme
turning plane the U.S. answered with several planes that had common core
design features: they were fast, they were heavily armed, they were
heavily armoured, and they performed well at high altitudes.
Against the likes of well flown P38, F6F or
F4U, the Zero was hopelessly outclassed, but by the time that was
evident to all concerned it was too late to displace it as the number
one fighter for Japan. When asked after the war which plane he fly in
WW2 combat if he had a choice of any, Sabaro Sakai, one of the leading
Japanese aces of WW2, said he would pick a P51. The pilots of the Zero
understood what they needed was a faster, tougher plane, but the design
that produced such outstanding early war results was no longer able to
give them that four years later.
|