Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

This book covers a great deal about Japanese airplanes not only the A6M (a.k.a Zero) series fighters but also other planes.

A new copy can cost as much as $230 (!), and I was fortunate to buy two copies for around $20 each; one for my instructor at my aviation school and one for myself.

This is probably the best book written in English about the A6M with many photo images.

The two famous pilots, Saburo Sakai & Tetsuzo Iwamoto both flew Model-21, which is the one on the cover page of this book (the one painted in light grey). They never met with each other but shared the same philosophy; find the enemy before they find you. Iwamoto had allegedly shot down over 200 enemy fighters. After the war was over, Sakai had a chance to fly some of the American fighters and concluded that the P51 Mustang was the best fighter during the WW2.