Mitsubishi’s A6M Zero

Mitsubishi’s A6M Zero

Introduction
The Pearl Harbor attack was Japan’s unexpected military move against the United States.
Japan’s Imperial Navy attacked the United States naval base located in Honolulu. The attack
happened on 7th December, 1941 and directly influenced the United States’ entry into the second
world war (Dwyer, 2014). As a result, Japan destroyed 19 US navy ships, killed 2403 people,
and injured more than 1000 individuals who were not necessarily soldiers. Japan used 521
aircraft to launch the fight against the US, and most of them were manufactured by the
Mitsubishi aircraft company. Out of all the aircrafts used at the time, most of them were the
A6M Zeros. The Imperial Navy considered it the best fighter aircraft then and used it a lot during
the war. The Mitsubishi A6M Zeros were Japan’s deadly weapons for their Kamikaze operations.
Japan chose to use Mitsubishi’s A6M Zero because it met the specifications required by the
government to fight enemies aerodynamically.
Body
Mitsubishi manufactured the A6M Zeros in 1940 to be used as an aircraft fighter. When
Japan used the aircraft, they were recognized as a nation that used the most productive planes.
The aircraft’s features were unprecedented, which gave Japan a competitive advantage against its
rivals. The A6M Zeros were outfitted with strong cannons and machine guns and could carry
bombs of up to 60 kilograms (Maticm, 2018). The manufacturers used an aluminum alloy known
as extra super duralumin, which accelerated the craft’s speed and ascending endurance. The extra
super duralumin made the plane lighter, enabling it to outmaneuver other aircraft fighters. A6M

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Zero was prominently used during the Pearl Harbor attack and World War II due to its unique
features.
According to aviation experts, the A6M Zero fighter aircrafts were the most powerful
fighting machines in 1940 (Smith, 2014). It had a powerful engine that boosted its speed and
adaptability. At the time, it was the only all-metal monoplane that could carry 30-60 kilograms
of bombs for attacks. The design team, headed by Jiro Horikoshi, had created a machine with a
high power-to-weight ratio. Before it was manufactured, the Imperial Navy released a list of
requirements for a fighter plane that was more maneuverable than the A5M (Smith, 2014). The
requirements specified that the craft had to have a low wingspan and high speed. Therefore, the
developers of the A6M manufactured a plane that was nimble and could out-turn almost all crafts
that were being used during the war. A6M was designed to allow the Japanese Imperial to attack
distant rivals such as China and the US.
The A6M zero model was lightweight because the designers paid attention to minute
details. For example, they punctured aluminum sheets and welded them together to hold the
aileron control tube instead of using heavier materials (Smith, 2014). At the time, other planes
were made using metal solely. However, the A6M zero manufacturers used plywood to build
parts of the aircraft as a weight reduction measure. Plywood was used to reinforce the craft’s
structure because it is a stable material with consistent measurements (Smith, 2014). Compared
to the A5M, the model was heavier but lighter when flown. The landing gear and the fuel tanks
determined the wings’ weight. To control the weight, the engineers of the plane used lighter
engines that limited their horsepower by today’s standards.
The model’s engine was close to the cockpit, making it more aerodynamically agile. This
was the aircraft’s empennage that centered its gravity and lift. By placing the engine near the

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cockpit, the developers placed it close to the fulcrum, thus reducing its weight. Having the
engine close to the cockpit reduced the amount of fuselage material used, drastically reducing the
overall weight (Akimoto, 2014). As a result, pilots experienced less inertia during flights. As a
result, they had an easier time making loops or turns. The craft’s elevator allowed it to make tight
turns which was detrimental to helping pilots avoid missile attacks. The engine produced one
thousand horsepower on take-off. Additionally, it used a supercharger which was two times
faster than the previous single charger. This enabled it to reach the expected speed and
sufficiency. The super-charging engine also improved its altitude performance and flight span.
The A6M model could carry more weapons and explosives compared to other fighter
aircrafts at the time. The engineers had installed type 97 machine guns that pilots fired through
the propellers (Smith, 2014). They used synchronized gears, which were relatively rare during
that era. This added them an advantage when fighting enemies. Additionally, the wings were
fitted with type 99 cannons produced recently. Each wing could also accommodate bombs of up
to 60 kgs. The weight of the weapons was enabled by a fuel tank that could be installed
externally under the plane’s centerline.
The plane’s folding wing mechanism made it appropriate for war. The folding wings were
adopted based on previous tests performed on previous models. Due to the wing adjustment, the
engineers had to change the plane’s exhaust system. As a result, it had more thrust since the
exhaust system aimed at stacks and dispersed them around the shortened fuselage. The exhaust
system sometimes got heated and led to malfunctioning. Therefore, the engineers developed
cowl flaps installed with heat shields and notches to cool the stacks (Tsushima &Tamayama,
2019).

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When the pearl harbor attack happened, engineers had produced 521 A6M models that
were already operating in the Pacific (Akimoto, 2014). In-flight, the craft had a range of almost
2600 kilometers which allowed it to attack from a long distance. The Zero model gained a
terrifying reputation because it always sounded like more planes than there were. When Japan
attacked their rivals using the A6M, they knew that they had the advantage of speed and
maneuverability. The plane had a superior climb which allowed its aviators to launch attacks and
then speed off to a distance where they were out of reach. The plane’s easy agility also enabled
pilots to get a shot at the enemy as they climbed away from the fight scene.
Conclusion
The A6M model was an invention that was ahead of its time. During the pearl harbor
attack, Japan used the model based on its agility and high speeds compared to other planes. It
had the ability to out-turn enemies due to its advanced specs. The model inspired the American
government to invest in craft development, which eventually led to its decline. During the
consequent war, Japan lost many aviators, which also contributed to the model’s decline.
However, A6 M’s maneuverability remained unmatched for many years after that. The ideas that
the engineers of A6M Zero used are still inspiring airplane developers today.

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References

Akimoto, D. (2014). War Memory, War Responsibility, and Anti-War Pacifism in Director
Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu).
Dwyer, L. (2014). Mitsubishi A6M Reisen (Zero-Sen). The Aviation History Online Museum, 25.
Matic, A. (2018). The Trash Pile’Zeke’: The identification of the remains of a Mitsubishi A6M
Zero in a rubbish dump, Yaren District, Republic of Nauru. Artefact: the Journal of the
Archaeological and Anthropological Society of Victoria, The, 41, 16-27.
Smith, P. C. (2014). Mitsubishi Zero: Japan’s Legendary Fighter. Pen and Sword.
Tsushima, N., & Tamayama, M. (2019). Recent researches on morphing aircraft technologies in
Japan and other countries. Mechanical Engineering Reviews, 6(2), 19-00197.