Japanese Zero

[WTC]

Why is the *** Zero's armor soo poor when you fire a round it turns into a great ball of fire?

[Furball]

lack of armour, lack of self sealing fuel tanks and unarmoured pressurised oxygen supply.

[SIK1]

When the Japanese designed and built the A6M (zero) they decided that they wanted an agile plane and they got that, they just had to give up armor, and self sealing fuel tanks to reduce weight. It actually worked well for them at the begining of the war as they were the class of the field in the PTO.It seems that it was pretty much a design philosophy used by the Japanese, another good example is the betty bomber or "flying Zippo" as it was called by American aircrews.

SIK1

[Karnak]

The requirement for speed, range, cannon and agility on a 925hp engine required sacrifices somewhere.

Latter Japanese aircraft carried armor and self sealing tanks.

[bkbandit]

because the zero is made of crap, very very simple answer. Unless theres a monster furball(alot of times zeros are killed first) zero aint no good, unless u get a sucker to turn fight u. The other day i was trackin a red on the radar, thought it was a set of high bombers, it ends up being a zero, i was in a 51b, i came in behind him so fast i almost didnt have time to line up a shot(i was striaght and level, no wep). In ewa it isnt bad, compared to f4f it is good, but with f4fs strong armour and solid 6 50s and its ability to dive  imo makes f4f a more desirable fighter. BUt if u want a turn fighter hurrC out classes it big time, they have more armour better guns and for some reason turn better.

But of course since i am a hardcore USN guy(f6f all day long) i dont like anythin with the meatball logos on it.

[Debonair]

those aren't real japanese plane, they're virtual ones.
those "meatballs" are soy

[Bruv119]

can we refrain from using the word Jap?

it may be offensive, in another game you would be cursed upon to refer to them by this name and it filtered.

The zero is a great plane only solution is to not get hit  

[TimRas]

Originally posted by bkbandit
because the zero is made of crap...

The standard metal for aircraft structures in the era, was duraluminum ( now known as 2000 series), that was developed in Germany prior to WW1. Sumitomo Metals had developed a new alloy called ESD or Extra Super Duralumin (patented 1936) which was a zinc aluminium alloy. The allied aircraft did not use this alloy until the mid-1940's (7000 series). Jiro Horikoshi made extensive use of this alloy in his A6M as this allowed large-scale weigh reductions.

[Reynolds]

A6M= Paper Crane. Real easy to make, just get an engine, some guns, and a bunch of glue and computer paper! Fold on the dotted lines, and BAM! You got a Jappo. (Jappo isnt offensive. It is a combination of the word Japan and Zero. It is comonly used amongst my crowd where I live, and used by a lot of japanese people. Jappo isnt specifically the A6M, it pretty much describes any japanese plane with that big red dot on the side)

[bkbandit]

jappo could also be jap(cuse its a jap fighter) and zippo(cuze it lites up quick). I just dont like when they light up they still fly for another 5 mins, i have seen to much hellcat gun cams to believe it, they flame up they loose controll, just that simple.

I cant stand zeros(again, to much pto docs) but i respect them tons more then the dweeb fighters.

[Oldman731]

Originally posted by bkbandit
BUt if u want a turn fighter hurrC out classes it big time, they have more armour better guns and for some reason turn better.

Heh.  Hurri IIC doesn't turn better than A6M2.  Doesn't even come close, really.

- oldman

[Ghosth]

BK bandit, they were NOT made of crap, esp not the early war ones.

The main contruction was virtually identical to what the US was building.
And if you don't believe me, then ask yourself why so many T6 texan's are painted like Zero's for war movies????

Furball gave you the right answer, lack of armour protection for pilot & vital structures. Lack of self sealing fuel tanks.

As to why it takes so long, well even a fuel fire doesn't melt wings off instantly.
Aluminum has a 2000- 4k melting point, takes time to cause a major structural failure.

[Krusty]

Control cables, electric wires, fuel hoses (leading to the engine, and other fuel tanks), ammunition magazines, all these do NOT take as long to destroy. Guess what, all of these are in the wing right next to that flaming gas tank. Food for thought.

[Stoney74]

Well, just about every U.S. fighter at the beginning of the war shared the same design characteristics--no armor, no self-sealing tanks, etc.  The early wildcats and jugs are good examples.  They didn't even deploy the P-47B for combat as a result.

There's a story about a Ki-43 shooting down 2 B-24s in a mission in the CBI.  That's like an early zeke without the cannon.

[bkbandit]

Originally posted by Ghosth
BK bandit, they were NOT made of crap, esp not the early war ones.

The main contruction was virtually identical to what the US was building.
And if you don't believe me, then ask yourself why so many T6 texan's are painted like Zero's for war movies????

Furball gave you the right answer, lack of armour protection for pilot & vital structures. Lack of self sealing fuel tanks.

As to why it takes so long, well even a fuel fire doesn't melt wings off instantly.
Aluminum has a 2000- 4k melting point, takes time to cause a major structural failure.

I have seen to much real footage, when they lite up they pretty much lose controll not conitue to fight for 10 mins.

What does it matter what they use in movies, if movies were acurate i could jump a mustang 100 yards over tarrfic and race away(gone in six seconds)