MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- During the early 1940s, the station’s skies and much of the Pacific were dominated by the propelled engines of the single-seat Mitsubishi Type 0 Carrier Fighters.
Also known as the Zero, the Zero fighter carried Japan through several battles during World War II.
The Zero’s capabilities and proven power during air-to-air combat inspired awe in its enemy combatants as it was able to outmanever all other land-based aircraft of the 1940s.
Today, the shrapnel-scarred Zero Hangar across the street from the Provost Marshal’s Office here remains a reminder of the presence the Zero had during the last world war.
In May of 1937, the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service issued out specifications for a new updated fighter aircraft to Nakajima and Mitsubishi.
Both companies began developing plans and prototypes, but when Nakajima felt the specifications were impossible to meet, they pulled their plans from the competition.
Jiro Horikoshi, Mitsubishi’s chief designer, believed he could create what IJNAS asked for.
IJNAS called for a fighter that could reach speeds up to 310 miles per hour at 13,120 feet and climb to 9,840 feet in 3 minutes and 30 seconds while being armed with two 20 mm cannons, two 7.7 mm machine guns and two 60-pound bombs.
They also wanted it equipped with a full radio and a direction finder. With the technology available at the time, many people wondered how the specifications could be met.
Horikoshi believed he could meet all IJNAS’ requirements if he could find a way to make the aircraft lighter. Horikoshi found his solution.
Protective armor and self-sealing fuel tanks were sacrificed to make the plane lighter and a lightweight aluminum alloy named “Extra- Super Duraluminum” was used to construct the body.
Horikoshi was able to meet, and in some areas surpass, what IJNAS asked for.
Once prototypes were constructed, tested and improved on, the IJNAS began full production and delivery in December 1940.
General Claire Chennault, who was working with the Chinese Nationalists to fight the Japanese in 1940, sent reports to the United States warning about the Zero’s air power two years before it took to the skies.
His reports were misfiled and forgotten.
As a result, the U.S. Grumman F-4F Wildcats were completely shocked and overwhelmed by the Zero’s superior speed and power as they tried to defend against the attacks on Pearl Harbor.
The Zero remained the superior fighter in the air during the early years of World War II.
It wasn’t until the development of the Grumman F-6F Hellcat and the Battle of Midway that the Zero’s monopoly over the Pacific Ocean skies started to decline.
Iwakuni was home to 150 Zero fighter planes toward the end of the war.
A day before the war ended, the hangar sustained damaged after a bombing.
The hangar, which is the only World War IIera hangar remaining today, sits as a concrete relic, housing a replica Type Zero Carrier Fighter.
The full-scale model aircraft remains housed there as a symbol of a time when the Zero once ruled the Pacific skies.
For more information about the Zero Hangar or to set up an appointment for a full tour of the hangar call the Public Affairs Officer at 253-5551.
Editors note: Information in this article was used from http://www.vectorsite.net/avzero.html, http://www.vf31.com/aircraft/zero.html, http://www.aviation-history.com/mitubishi/zero.hmland the brochure “Type Zero Carrier Fighter” by Takatsu Shiomura, translated by John Jr. Takaoda, assisted by Gunnery Sgt. J.M. Work and Capt. G.B. Anderson.