Zero Fighter [Hardcover]

Akira Yoshimura (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0275953556 | ISBN-13: 978-0275953553

From a North American standpoint, Zero Fighter makes a number of highly interesting points, having been written for the Japanese market. For example, North Americans are generally not aware of the success of the Zero fighter or of its significance in Japanese minds. Both the superiority of the aircraft in the early stages of the Pacific War and the great stature of Jiro Horikoshi as an aircraft designer (he is to Japan what the designer of the Spitfire is to the U.K.) will come as a revelation to most readers here. Also completely unknown to most North American readers is the story of the transport section at the Nagoya Aircraft Works. This information is woven nicely into the book, and has a great deal to say about the startling quality of Japanese wartime industry: rigid in many ways, while producing a plane of brilliant originality. The book is a moving picture of the patience of the Japanese in the face of adversity, but perhaps most important, Zero Fighter is Japanese. It is not often that a Japanese book is encountered here that divulges intimate knowledge about such a fascinating subject. There is significant value in this as we enter an era in which the Japanese and American people must share and respect the other's cultural point of view.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Japan's Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" dogfighter is among the preeminent aircraft of aviation history. Designed in 1937, the Zero set new standards for air-to-air superiority and wreaked havoc first on Chinese and then on American opponents. In this slim history, Yoshimura (Build the Musashi!, 1992) presents the Japanese view of how the Zero ruled the skies for much of WWII, and how, shortly thereafter, these superb fighter planes became obsolete. Early sections of the narrative are heavy on the technology (the publisher claims that Yoshimura invented the "technohistory" genre). There is much here that is poignant, though, such as the description of a skilled test pilot mysteriously slipping out of his parachute harness after safely ejecting from a prototype aircraft that exploded in midair. Yoshimura fascinates when recounting how the U.S. ignored early warnings about the Zero from American pilot Claire Chennault, who encountered the remarkable dogfighter while flying for China. He also manages to impart suspense to the oft-told tale of Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, which occurred three years to the day before an earthquake ravaged the Nagoya Aircraft Works, where the Zeros were built?an event that, here, presages not only the end of the war but also the close of Yoshimura's knowledgeable history. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Yoshimura (Build the Musashi: The Birth and Death of the World's Greatest Battleship, Kodansha, 1992) invented technohistory as a genre. In this work, he deals with the development, production, and history of the Japanese World War II fighter. This warplane flew rings around the Americans during the first two years of World War II. It was not until late 1943 that the United States finally developed a fighter that could outfly the Zero. The Japanese, expecting a short war, were never able to produce a successor to the Zero, nor could they replace their losses in planes or pilots. Their production and training facilities were inadequate, since their industrial base and infrastructure could not compare with America's. For instance, when a Zero was completed, it was disassembled and had to be towed by oxcart to an airfield for assembly. Yoshimura's book is for all World War II and aviation collections.?Stanley Itkin, Hillside P.L., New Hyde Park, N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Trade (March 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275953556
• ISBN-13: 978-0275953553
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,202,993 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a book with many flaws, but still interesting, February 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Zero Fighter (Hardcover)

The first 5 pages of the book are the best. The contrast of a sophisticated new fighter plane being transported to the airfield for its maiden flight on two oxcarts is beautifully described. Unfortunately, the book goes downhill from there. The author seems too emotional about the A5M and A6M fighters. He describes them as the best and fastest fighters in the world. "Best" is arguable, but "fastest" is not. For instance, in 1939 the Messerschmitt Bf109E and Spitfire I were clearly faster than the A6M2 Zero was in 1940. The translation is awful. It seems to have been carried out in two stages by a Japanese and by a native English speaker. The latter was obviously unfamiliar with standard technical terms. For instance, he refers to "7.7 millimeter aperture" instead of "7.7 caliber" machine guns. A particularly funny error was the statement that the "German" F3F was the standard fighter in the U.S. Navy at some point; it was actually the Grumman F3F. On the political/historical side, I found it interesting that the author correctly pointed out that Japan was forced into an impossible situation in 1941 by the embargo of raw materials by Great Britain, the Netherlands and the United States, and that this led to Japan's attacks on Pearl Harbor, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. However, the author glosses over the fact that the reason for the embargo was Japan's brutal aggression against China, a war that according to the author just ... "happened". He paints the Japanese government as eager to stop the war against China, and complains that no agreement could be reached with the Chinese because the Western powers were supplying weapons to them. I don't know if views such as these are common in Japan today. If they are, this would contribute to explain why so many Asian countries are unhappy with Japan's lack of acknowledgement of responsibilities in regard to WW2.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Some accurate detailed history,some hype,not well translated, January 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Zero Fighter (Hardcover)

I have to admit to reading this entire treatise. This book reviews the history of the development of the WWII military aviation technology of Japan. There is much detailed credit and history of this sort recanted. When it comes to the exploits of the Zero, the author appears to go by the hyped up press releases of the Japanese of the time, and the usual reference to the allies attaches adjectives of "terrified", and "horrified", to the degree that it is obvious and insulting. Frequently, the translation is so course that it reads like a cheap VCR manual, but often it is clear that the writing was just poorly organized and disjointed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Have to agree with the other reviewers, January 12, 2010

By 

John B. Goode "JBG" (Earth) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Zero Fighter (Hardcover)

The first 1/2 of the book is nice, talks about how the concept of the Zero began and the difficulties of the development. And this is penned by the man who designed the Zero from scratch so it's a very relevant and important book to those who are interested in this fighter.

However, it's not enough, because the Zero went though a lot of changes during the war, and none of that is talked about, not about the exploits of it during combat. The first half of the brings you up to when the Zero became the front line fighter, however the rest of the book is just a short summary of the Pacific War. If the author had shortened the book by half and titled it "The development of the Zero fighter from design to fruition", that would have been a much more accurate title. However, the book is still interesting since we generally don't get to read a lot of books from the other side.