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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 1305.PDF
MAY 2OTH, 1943 heii* Characteristics MITSUBISHI S-00 DIHEDRAL ROUNDED TIPS SHORT NOSE INTAKE DIMENSIONS Span Length .. .. Height Wing area 39ft. 28ft. 256 sq Sin. Sin. 9ft. • ft. MODERATE TAPER UNTIL the Americans captured an example of theMitsubishi S-OO, very little exact information wasavailable about this much-publicised Japanese fighter which the U.S. pilots have nicknamed the Zero. All that was known before then, apart from the fact that it was a low-wing single-seater fighter powered by an air-cooled radial engine, was gleaned fibm American pilots, both Navy and Army, who had encountered it in action in various parts of the Pacific theatre. They said that it was very fast, had a particularly good rate of climb, ^nd possessed a degree of manoevrability which made it a.highly dangerous opponent in a dcjg-fight. Then one day, in the Aleutians, a Zero [pilot made a forced landing on some deceptive-looking I muskeg, and broke his neck when his aircraft dug its wheels into the soft surface and somersaulted on to its back. In due course U.S. Navy salvage men retrieved the machine and found it was practically undamaged. Being the first ever to be captured intact, this Zero was worth its weight in rubber and was crated and sent to the Naval Air Station on San Diego's North Island, where it was carefully examined According to reports since published, the U.S. experts were much impressed with severar things about the Jap fighter. It was about half the weight of a U.S. Navy -standard type of fighter, scaling only 5,200 lb. gross, and was devoid of any protective armour. Its fuel tanks were not self-sealing, and its instruments and other accessories were few and simple. An unusual feature was that the wings were constructed in one with the fuselage, only about 2ft. (just the tips, in efiect) folding for carrier stowage. Lightness, with a very low wing-loading, was obviously the chief aim, even the thin alloy skin being coated with only the merest film of rust-resisting lacquer. Its 1,200 h.p. 14-cylinder Kinsei air-cooled radial engine proved to be a copy of a Pratt & Whitney, and its instru* ments were also copies of the best American equipment. Kxcellent workmanship was found everywhere. Armament comprises two 20 mm. cannoli in the wings and two 7.7 mm. machine-guns in the engine cowling. Top speed is 345 m.p.h. at 10,000ft., service ceiling 36,000ft., and normal range 590 miles at 265 m.p.h. Wooden auxiliary fuel tanks are sometimes fitted beneath the centre section.
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