Blood Red Skies: Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero Squadron

The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a fast, modern fighter, but had no armour for the pilot. When the Zero was in the hands of aggressive and well-trained pilots this weakness was rarely apparent. Fast and manoeuvrable, and with an extremely long range, it proved a menace to the Allies in the early stages of the Pacific War.

Referred to by its pilots as Reisen (Zero fighter);‘0’ coming from the last digit of the Imperial Year 2600 in which the aircraft entered service), the official Allied reporting name was “Zeke” though colloquially “Zero” came into common Allied usage as well.

The A6M remains the most famous of all Japanese World War Two warplanes, significant for being the first carrier-borne fighter in the world to be seen as equal to its land-based counterpart. The lack of an adequate successor as technologies moved on meant that the aircraft was developed and produced in vast numbers long after its effective limits had been achieved and surpassed by superior Allied a