Zero: Combat and Development History of Japan's Legendary Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter (Motorbooks International Warbird History) [Paperback]

Robert Mikesh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 12, 1994

The most in-depth combat and development history of the Japanese Zero ever assembled! This superb history is told through first-person interviews with Zero pilots and the U.S. airmen who fought against them. Includes cutaway drawings, serial number lists, detailed appendices, and a registry of surviving planes. Contains exquisite cutaway drawings by Rukyu Watanabe. Foreword by Saburo Sakai.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks International (November 12, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087938915X
• ISBN-13: 978-0879389154
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #729,490 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for WWII Japanese Aviation Historians, May 21, 1999

By 

[e-mail], Bobby C. Kline (U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zero: Combat and Development History of Japan's Legendary Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter (Motorbooks International Warbird History) (Paperback)

Zero Combat & Development by Robert Mikesh, does a splendid job of telling the story of the history and development of the A6M all models are included and a break down of their history and purpose of coming into play are described. The book covers the successes of the earlier A5M and discusses the specifications handed to Horikoshi. It does an excellent job of explaining the structural defect present in the early model A6M's and what corrective measures were taken to prevent more accidents. It shows many photos interior cut away drawings and specifactons. I am an aviation historian and a model builder and I even learned from reading this book. Also valuable is the information obtained from the captured A6M and the test of many American fighters of that time against the A6M. Don't just take my word for it read it for yourself.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zero, History of Japan's Legendary A6M Zero Fighter, June 24, 2002

By 

D. P. Broer (LEIDEN, ZH Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zero: Combat and Development History of Japan's Legendary Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter (Motorbooks International Warbird History) (Paperback)

When you are not fluent in Japanese, there are not very much other publications about the A6M Zero I could recommend you to buy. This book has it all: splendid photographs - both historical and of surviving planes-, an indepth text which not just tells the allied side of the story - there is a forword by Zero Ace Saburo Sakai himself -, and a good bibliography of 27 earlier publications about this plane, proving that the author can read the original language himself because most of them are in Japanese. It also list all the classics in the English language up to publication date, only missing the ARCO/Aircam No. 18 by Richard M. Bueschel, published in 1970 and since long out of print, though updated and reissued by Schiffer Books in 1995. The Polish/British Mushroom Publications brought out a Zero monograph by Artur Juszczak as well in November 2001, more focussed on modellers, which can also be used as a sort of 'Walk Around', because there are shots of almost all parts and angles of the plane, something which it has in common with another Polish 'Zero' book by Arthur Lochte.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive Zero book, July 22, 1999

By 

Dan Ford ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zero: Combat and Development History of Japan's Legendary Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter (Motorbooks International Warbird History) (Paperback)

Mikesh is that rare combination of combat pilot (he was a FAC during the Vietnam War) and historian (former curator at the Natl Air & Space Museum). Japanese military aviation is his speciality, and this book is the definitive history of Japan's remarkable Zero fighter.