The Mitsubishi A5M, formal Japanese Navy designation Mitsubishi Navy Type 96 Carrier-based Fighter (九六式艦上戦闘機), experimental Navy designation Mitsubishi Navy Experimental 9-Shi Carrier Fighter, company designation Mitsubishi Ka-14, was a WWII-era Japanese carrier-based fighter aircraft. The Type number is from the last two digits of the Japanese imperial year 2596 (1936) when it entered service with the Imperial Navy.
Mitsubishi A5M
First prototype with inverted gull wing
An A5M from the aircraft carrier Akagi in flight with an external fuel tank (1938 or 1939)
A5M4-K
The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-based fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was designated as the Mitsubishi Navy Type 0 carrier fighter , or the Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen. The A6M was usually referred to by its pilots as the Reisen, "0" being the last digit of the imperial year 2600 (1940) when it entered service with the Imperial Navy. The official Allied reporting name was "Zeke", although the name "Zero" was used colloquially as well.
Mitsubishi A6M Zero
Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" Model 21 takes off from the aircraft carrier Akagi, to attack Pearl Harbor
The cockpit (starboard console) of an A6M2 which crashed into Building 52 at Fort Kamehameha during the attack on Pearl Harbor, killing the pilot.
Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero wreck abandoned at Munda Airfield, Central Solomons, 1943
