The primary Japanese fighter of WWII, few airplanes have developed such a mythology about them. While they dominated the skies in 1941-42, they quickly began to fall behind new Allied aircraft (this was also helped by a intact Zero being found in mid-1942, allowing all its weaknesses to be discovered). While the A6M was very agile, it paid for this by lacking self-sealing fuel tanks and any signficant armor protection for the pilot (both of these features found in most American and European fighters).
Some 11,000 were built, though only 400 were on hand in December 1941. Many were used as kamikaze aircraft in the final stages of the war in the Pacific.
Subassemblies: Body +3, two High Agility Wings +2, three Wheels
+1
P&P: 700 kW HP gasoline engine w/aerial propeller (2100
lbs thrust)
Fuel: 140 gallons aviation gasoline (fire chance: 14) in 3 fuel
tanks (38 gallons body, 41 gallons each wing), 4 hours endurance (1086
miles @80% top speed)
Occ: 1 NCS
Cargo: 1 cf
| Armor | All | ||||
| Body | 1/2 | ||||
| Wings | 1/2 | ||||
| Wheels | 2/5 |
Weaponry
20mm Type 99 cannon [RWing:F] (100 rounds)
20mm Type 99 cannon [LWing:F] (100 rounds)
2*7.7mm Type 97 MGs [Body:F] (300 rounds per gun)
700 lb hardpoint [Body] (87 gallon drop tank)
Equipment
Body: long range radio, environmental controls, arrestor hook
Statistics
| Size: 12'x38'x28' | Payload: 1230 lbs | Lwt: 5545 lbs (2.77 tons) |
| Volume: 236.3 cf (Size Mod: +3) | Maint.: 65 hours | Price: $95,100 |
HT: 9
HP: 138 [body], 85 [each wing]
Hardpoint Loaded
| aSpeed: 333 | aAccel: 7 | aDecel: 22 | aMR: 5.5 | aSR: 4 | aDrag: 141.3 |
| Stall: 74 mph | Takeoff: 133 yards | Landing: 138 yards |
Hardpoint Unloaded
| aSpeed: 339 | aAccel: 8 | aDecel: 25 | aMR: 6.25 | aSR: 4 | aDrag: 136.7 |
| Stall: 70 mph | Takeoff: 111 yards | Landing: 123 yards |
Design Notes
Frame is expensive light for 170 cf body, 8.5 cf wheels and two 28.9
cf folding wings. Armor is cheap metal. The aircraft has good streamlining.
New Weaponry
7.7mm Type 97 MG: treat as 7.62mm MG
Online References
http://www.aviation-history.com/mitsubishi/zero.html