according to one oz vet’s article that i read when spit mkv’s met zero’s over darwin that the zero’s were at a great advantage .
the zero’s biggest problem in the long run was the ijnaf who insisted the the zero should be better armed and protected but wouldn’t alow mitsubishi to put a more powerful engine in it until it was too late.
according to saburo sakai the a6m8 with the more powerful mitsubishi kinsei would have bought the zero up to the hellcat in perfomance :eek:,but only two prototypes mand one proction aircraft had flown by the end of the war ,mitsubishi had asked for aproval to reengine the zero in 1942 along with the extra arnament and pilot protection that came with the a6m5 but were refused permission.
on the otherside the spitfire was allowed many improvements over it’s service life (still remained a short range aircraft though)doubling in horsepower better guns and pilot protection,etc.
the zero never went into combat with more than 1150hp and still in a good pilots hand was a fighter not to be taken lightly and never to get into a turning fight with.:dev2:
paul
ps i allway’s thought that the beast pilots spit was the mkviii:diablo:
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