Talk:Mitsubishi A6M Zero/@comment-107.184.201.220-20170401012059

There were many worthy Japanese fighter designs but the Zero was most prolific by nearly twice the quantity as the runner up. The Zero was in all significant Japanese battles of the war unlike the others. It had world-beating maneuverability, range and a 20mm KO punch all at the same time, from the start to the end. No other fighter in the world did that, let alone Japan.

The Zero was similar to the Bf 109 of the Luftwaffe in some ways. They were the backbone of their nation's WW2 fighter force and were the most produced from start to finish. Both started with the same guns. Both had heavy controls at higher speeds. Both could outclimb their foes and enjoyed better altitude performance than most of them early on. Most all of their aces were made flying them. They were both meant to win a short war.

On the minus side, the Zero was denied the needed hp to keep up with it's increasing weight, by the IJN brass in 1943. This also rendered it obsolete as a top contender against it's new foes on the Allied side. The N1K Shiden assumed the torch by default. The design team chose the 1560 hp Ha-112-II engine for the A6M5, but the brass locked horns with them. What were they thinking? The larger diameter of this engine would mean less view on take-off like the unpopular Ki 44. It was also a weight increase causing less agility. The brass were banking on the A6M4 and A6M6 to boost the existing engine, but these did not reach production. Thus the A6M5 was underpowered, resorting to exhaust pipes for more speed to keep up with 2000 hp Hellcats. The engineers knew best. They were frustrated by the brass. After the Turkey shoot, the IJN was chastised by the American victory and relented. The A6M8 finally got the 1560 hp engine but the war was over before it saw action. By then it was obsolete again anyway. Thus the A6M7 was used mostly for suicide missions against ships.

But what if the strengthened A6M7 had the 2200 hp MK9A engine? That would roughly keep pace with the F6F as well as reclaim the torch from the less reliable Shiden perhaps! It could have been a real contender.

OK, so that is the Reppu engine and the A7M2 was supposed to replace the Zero. It was the most delayed fighter of the war. It began before Pearl Harbor was attacked and was still too late to see action in WW2.

The A6M5 could've had 1560 hp until the fully armored A6M7 with 2200 hp! The IJN fought the design team even for putting the 2200 hp in the big Reppu! The engineers should have demonstrated a 2200 hp A6M7 without letting on, until the brass were sold by watching a mock dogfight with a Hellcat and a Shiden. That would've been a sight to see. In May, 1945 the new faster 20mm Type 99-II Model 5 with 750 r/m RoF, was starting production. Imagine 4 of those in the wings of the A6M7 which started production the same month also! Perhaps it would lack the handling of the Reppu, but it would have much better roll-rate and climb. It would match the speed of the Shiden perhaps. In fact both would do better with the MK9A engine. The Ki 84 was also slated to switch to this engine. Of course the MK9 factory was bombed by B-29s but this was easy to forsee. Muliple factories in mountains was called for, as was done for the Ki 84 already. This missed opportunity could have been possible. The Raiden was also unreliable and would've benefitted from the MK9A installation. OK, so it had some vibration, the MK9 was not perfect. But more reliable than the high flying turbo MK9C version.