Talk:A6M/@comment-107.184.201.220-20170301042030

The Zero was a game-changer. It had such unheard of range. Yet it had the same world-beating guns as the short range Bf 109E! How could it be? Niether started out with armor. In fact you might say the phenomenal aerobatic prowess of the Zero was as effective as armor in avoiding damage.

But then a new generation of Allied fighters showed up and re-wrote the rules.

The Zero by mid-war was perhaps the last fighter to still lack armor and paid the price.

In 1945 it still had the mid-war engine after adding more guns and so on. It needed much more hp to keep pace. The navy brass forcefully stopped the designers from installing the Ha-112-II with 1560 hp in 1943 when it mattered. When the Turkey shoot chastized them, they relented and belatedly endorsed it as the A6M8 two years too late and it missed the war. Again, obsolete by that time. It needed the MK9 with 2200 hp like the F6F had to keep the edge. The competent N1K became effectively the heir to the early Zero in all it's glory.

The 336 mph A6M5c was such a disappointment to the brass in 1944 but it was their own doing. At least it finally had full armor. With a 2200 hp MK9 like the star-crossed 390 mph Reppu A7M2 prototype enjoyed, the Zero-52c would've been a contender. That would be almost double the hp! Imagine the W/L and climb rate increase. It would've been the fastest Zero instead of one of the slowest!