In May of 1937, the Imperial Japanese Navy directed the both Mitsubishi
and Nakajima aircraft manufacturer to send in their projects of Carrier
-based Fighter, which was to succeed the IJNAF type 96 Kansen (Claude).

The IJNAF demanded that the succeeder shall have at least the same level
of dogfight maneuverability as Claude, and demanded speed was 500 km/h
or faster, with much improved range capability and the strengthened
armaments. The performance demand of the IJNAF for this project as
mentioned was as such that it seemed almost infeasible from the
standpoint of industrial standard of those days.

Mitsubishi design group headed by Jiro Horikoshi had finally succeeded
in making the fighter, which could meet such requirement of the IJNAF,
by reduction of aircraft weight to bare minimum. However, light weight
construction of Zero traded off with the armor and self-sealing fuel
tanks, and this turned out to be a weak point of the Zero Fighter.

Why was this airplane named Zero ? In the old days, before the WW II in
Japan, there was a calendar "Kouki", based on the year of an enthronement
ceremony of the Emperor Jinmu, and the first year of "Kouki" was 660B.C.
The Imperial Japanese Navy airplanes, at the time, were named by using
the last two didits of the year by the Kouki calendar. The Zero Fighter
was born in 1940 and the year 1940 by the Western calendar was the
year of "Kouki" 2600. The name of Zero Fighter came from the last
digit of the year Kouki 2600.

Model 21, A6M2b, was the first Zero with the foldable wing tips and
the hook to capture the arresting gear, and is known to have played
most active role in the Pacfic Theatre.

When you look at the tail section of fuselage, you'll see that a red
wide belt was depicted vertically around the fuselage. This red wide
belt indicated that the plane was the one allocated at the carrier,
AKAGI. Likewise, all the carrier-based fighter at the time had this
wide belt, but some were in different color. Two red vertical lines
were depicted on the plane which had belonged to the carrier, KAGA,
and a blue line was for the plane based on the carrier, SOURYUU, and
two blue lines were for the plane of the carrer, HIRYUU. You may be
puzzled with those lines drawn horizonatally on a fin. Three lines
were drawn on a fin of the plane flown by the squadron leader
(Hikoutaicho). Two lines were drawn on the plane of the group leader
(Chuutaicho), and one line was for the plane of the unit leader
(Syoutaicho).

Technical Data

Model 21	A6M2b
Span	12.00 m
Length	9.060 m
Height	3.570 m
Weight, loaded	2.421kg
Weight, empty	1.754 kg
Powerplant	Sakae 12, fourteen-cylinder air cooled radial.
Power	950 hp (4.200 m)
Maximum speed	288 kt (533 km/h) / 4.550 m
Armament	20mm cannon x 2, 7.7mm machine gun x 2
Bomb	two 60 kg bombs