The Japanese Zero's Weakness: How the Allies Beat It

For the first year of the Pacific War, Allied fighter pilots followed one rule: do not turn with a Japanese Zero. Then, in June 1944, American pilots shot down hundreds of Japanese aircraft over the Philippine Sea for the loss of a few dozen. The Zero had not suddenly fallen apart. So what changed? In this video: the 1937 Navy specification and designer Jiro Horikoshi, why the Mitsubishi A6M Zero was light, agile and unarmored, its early victories, the Thach Weave and boom-and-zoom tactics, the Akutan Zero captured in the Aleutians, the Corsair and Hellcat, the loss of Japan's veteran pilots, radar and fighter direction, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and why historians say the Zero was neither unbeatable nor inferior. Did the Zero's designers make the right bargain for the war Japan expected to fight, or should they have built a tougher aircraft? Tell me what you think in the comments. 📌 Chapters: 0:00 "Do not turn with a Zero" 0:50 The 1937 specification and Horikoshi 1:57 The Zero's early triumph 4:57 Change one: tactics (Thach Weave) 7:09 The Akutan Zero 10:43 Change two: Corsair and Hellcat 12:34 Why the Zero could not keep up 14:12 Change three: the pilots 17:22 Change four: radar and fighter direction 17:54 Battle of the Philippine Sea 18:56 What the evidence tells us 20:56 The fate of the Akutan Zero If you enjoy stories of the aircraft that changed the balance of power, subscribe so you don't miss the next one. #ZeroFighter #WW2 #PacificWar #AviationHistory #MitsubishiA6M