Overview
The Zero was light, extremely agile and had a range of more than 3,000 km with a drop tank, giving Japan's navy air superiority early in the Pacific War. To save weight it had no armour or self-sealing fuel tanks, a weakness Allied pilots learned to exploit.
Zeros escorted the carrier raids on Colombo on 5 April 1942 and on Trincomalee four days later. Specifications are for the A6M2.
Specifications
Dimensions
| Length | 9.06 m |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 12.00 m |
| Height | 3.05 m |
| Wing area | 22.4 m² |
Weights & fuel
| Empty weight | 1,680 kg |
|---|---|
| Max. take-off weight | 2,796 kg |
Performance
| Max. speed | 533 km/h |
|---|---|
| Range | 3,105 km |
| Service ceiling | 10,000 m |
Crew & capacity
| Crew | 1 |
|---|
Powerplant
| Engines | 1 |
|---|---|
| Engine model | Nakajima Sakae 12 (14-cylinder radial) |
| Power (each) | 709 kW |
Figures are compiled from public sources and may be approximate; they can vary by variant and configuration.
Armament
- Two 20 mm Type 99 cannon in the wings
- Two 7.7 mm Type 97 machine guns
- Two 60 kg bombs; late in the war some were used in kamikaze attacks
Photos
Photo 1: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Some text and images come from Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA licences.
