Warplanes of Japan: Mitsubishi A6M Zero captured and examined by Allied forces

Mitsubishi A6M Zero captured and examined by Allied forces Air Technical Intelligence of Imperial Japanese Army Air Service and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service Warplanes of the Second World War

During and after the Second World War British Commonwealth, American and French forces engaged in air technical intelligence (ATI) collection and evaluation of captured Japanese aircraft. Allied ATI units were established at Calcutta in India in 1943 and at Saigon in French Indo-China in 1945.  The Calcutta unit collected and examined a number of badly damaged aircraft.  After the end of the war, collection continued and flyable examples of various Japanese aircraft were examined and flown. This page concerns the the Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke” that were obtained and flown.  Many of these Zeros are now preserved in nmuseum.

(IJNAF Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M3 Model 22 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, coded UI-105, flown by Japanese air ace Lieutenant Junior Grade Hiroyoshi Nishizawa from the 251st Kokutai over the Solomon Islands 7 May 1943.  The unit's aircraft have been hastily sprayed with dark green camouflage paint on the upper surfaces.  Nishizawa is credited with 87 aerial victories (36 shot down, 2 damaged and 49 shared damaged), although he personally claimed to have had 102 aerial victories at the time of his death.  He was lost as a passenger on a Nakajima Ki-49 Donryu (Helen) transport aircraft flying from Mabalacat on Pampanga on the morning of 26 Oct 1944 while being flown to ferry replacement Zeros from Clark Field on Luzon.  The Ki-49 transport was attacked by two Grumman F6F Hellcats of VF-14 squadron from the fleet carrier USS Wasp and was shot down in flames.  Nishizawa died as a passenger, probably the victim of Lt. j.g. Harold P. Newell, who was credited with a "Helen" northeast of Mindoro that morning.

(IJNAF Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M3 Model 22 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, coded UI-105, flown by Japanese air ace Lieutenant Junior Grade Hiroyoshi Nishizawa from the 251st Kokutai over the Solomon Islands 7 May 1943.  The unit's aircraft have been hastily sprayed with dark green camouflage paint on the upper surfaces.

Japanese War Prizes in England

Several impressive Japanese aircraft are displayed at the Aerospace Museum at RAF Cosford in the UK.  The museum’s collection of Japanese aircraft comprises the only remaining Japanese aircraft transported to the UK after the Second World War.  At the end of the war, towards the end of 1945 a number of aircraft made up of Japanese Naval and Japanese Air force planes surrendered at Tebrau, a Japanese wartime airstrip in Malaysia.  The planes were flown by Japanese air-crews.  The British applied nationality markings and the acronym Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit - South East Asia (ATAIU-SEA).

(RAF Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, coded BI-I2, in flight with Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit - South East Asia (ATAIU-SEA) markings.  BI-12 was tested at Tebrau Air Base, Malaya, in 1946.  Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, coded BI-05 and another coded BI-06 were tested at Tebrau Air Base, Malaya, in 1946.

Primarily an RAF unit, ATAIU-SEA was formed during 1943 at Maidan, India, operating as a combined RAF/USAAF unit before the USAAF personnel were transferred to the United States.  By early 1946 ATAIU-SEA in Singapore had collected 64 Japanese Army and Navy aircraft, most in flyable condition, for shipment to the UK. However, lack of shipping space prevented this operation and only four eventually arrived in England to be put in display in museums.  The unit was disbanded at Seletar, Singapore on 15 May 1946.

(RAF Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke” in flight, RAF, Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit, South East Asia.  'B1-12' is shown here bing operated by ATAIU-SEA at Tebrau, Malaya in 1946.  Once thought to be applied by the British the tail number is now known to be IJN original  and identifies IJN Air Group 381.  A second Zeke marked 'B1-01' was a  former 381 Ku Raiden in ATAIU-SEA ownership at Tebrau, Malaya.

(Mark Harkin Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M3 Model 22 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke” cockpit in the RAF Museum, Duxford, England, still carrying its ATAIU-SEA markings.

(RAF Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke” (Serial No. 1303), RAF, TAIC II, metal finish.  This aircraft was captured on Saipan.  The legend 'AI 2G . . .' appears beneath the 'Technical Air Intelligence Center' beneath the cockpit.  This was the Air Ministry section responsible for German and Japanese air intelligence.  This aircraft was scheduled for delivery to ATAIU-SEA in India but it was eventually sent to the USA.

Captured Japanese Warplanes flown by the TAIU-SWPA in Australia

(RAAF Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M3 Model 32 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”.  This aircraft was rebuilt and test flown by the Technical Air Intelligence Unit (TAIU) at Eagle Farm, Brisbane, Australia, using parts of five different aircraft captured at Buna, New Guinea.  The completed aircraft was test flown in mock combat against a Supermarine Spitfire Mk. V.  It was concluded that the “Zeke” was superior to the Spitfire below 20,000 feet.  In late 1943 the “Zeke” was shipped to the United States aboard the escort carrier USS Copahee.  It went to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, where it was flown and evaluated.

Other Japanese aircraft acquired by the TAIU in Australia included two Nakajima Ki-43-1A (Army Type 1 Fighter Model 1A Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon)), codename “Oscar”, and a Kawasaki Ki-61-II (Army Type 3 Fighter Model 1 Hien (Swallow)), codename “Tony”.  The “Oscars” were test flown in Australia in March and April 1944, and the “Tony” was shipped to NAS Anacostia later in 1944.

In June 1944 the US Navy personnel at the TAIU in Australia were transferred to NAS Anacostia and became the cadre for an expanded Technical Air Intelligence Center.  Collection of Japanese aircraft continued in 1943, 1944, and 1945, for analysis by the US Navy and the USAAF.  TAIUs operated in Southeast Asia, the Philippines, China, and, after the end of hostilities, in Japan.  Personnel of the Royal Australian Air Force participated, as they had earlier in the war.

Captured Japanese airfields, particularly in the Philippines, were especially fruitful.  Many of the aircraft were shipped to the United Stated by escort carriers.  Their destinations were usually NAS Anacostia, Wright Field, or Freeman Field, Indiana.

After the conclusion of the Pacific War, most surviving Japanese aircraft were destroyed where they lay, usually by burning.  Those machines in more isolated areas were simply left to rot, often stripped of useful components by the indigenous population.   Some examples were shipped to Allied nations (primarily Australia, England and the United States) for technical study, but by the 1950s most of these had been sold for scrap.   With the rise of interest in aviation history during the 1970s, the surviving examples of Japanese Navy Air Force (JNAF) and Japanese Army Air Force (JAAF) aircraft were often repaired, restored, and placed on public display.  A few additional examples were recovered from former war zones and, in a few cases, renovated to high standards.  There are doubtless many more still corroding in jungle areas or under the sea which may one day be recovered and restored.[1]

“The Japanese Army and Navy forces as organizations were progressively demobilized and disbanded as soon as practical after their surrender in August 1945.  This short three-part article outlines the corresponding fate of their aircraft, a story beginning with the formation of Technical Air Intelligence Units (TAIUs) during 1943.”

“As in Europe, the Allies in the Pacific theatre were also keen to learn as much as possible about their opponents’ equipment. With Americans having the major involvement there, it was appropriate that they predominated in all such evaluation, particularly in respect of captured aircraft. It was agreed in this regard that the US Navy would lead a technical air intelligence joint organization which included USAAF, RAF and RN representatives.”

“Thereafter, the first TAIU was set up as a joint USAAF/USN/RAAF organization in Australia in early 1943.  This particular unit absorbed a small team from the Directorate of Intelligence, HQ Allied Forces, who were developing the Code Name system for Japanese aircraft they had started in 1942.  A second, known as the Allied TAIU for South East Asia (ATAIU-SEA), followed in Calcutta in late 1943 as a joint RAF/USAAF Allied unit.  Then, in mid 1944, the USN personnel from the TAIU in Australia were withdrawn to NAS Anacostia, near Washington DC, to become the TAIC (Technical Air Intelligence Centre), whose purpose was to centralise and co-ordinate work of test centres in the United States with work of TAIUs in the field.”

“The operation in Australia was reformed to function thereafter as TAIU for the South West Pacific Area (TAIU-SWPA) and eventually moved to the Philippines in early 1945.  Two other operations were also set up, TAIU for the Pacific Ocean Area (TAIU-POA) as a USN unit to trawl the various Pacific Islands for aircraft and TAIU for China (TAIU-CHINA) under control of Chiang Kai Shek’s Nationalists.”

“Aircraft test flown by the TAIUs before cessation of hostilities in August 1945:

TAIU (Australia) - approximately 5; TAIU-SWPA (Philippines) - over 20; ATAIU-SEA – None; TAIU- POA - None, but 14 sent to TAIC; TAIU-CHINA – 1; and, TAIC - at least 11.”

“When war ended the Allies felt it necessary to assess the state of technological development still remaining intact in Japan.  Although work of other TAIUs ended speedily, that of ATAIU-SEA and TAIU-SWPA continued to gather selected material for further evaluation; in order to do this the former moved to Singapore, with a flying unit at Tebrau in Malaya, and the latter to Japan itself.”

(USAAF Photos)

Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, painted in green cross surrender markings.

“There were two periods of so-called green cross flights by Japanese aircraft after capitulation.  The first lasted from about 19th August to 12th September 1945, covering flights of surrender delegations and flights of surrendering aircraft to assembly points.  The second period lasted from 15th September to 10th October 1945, covering general communications and taking surrender details to outlying forces. The longest survivors of these operations were probably those few that found their way into the Gremlin Task Force (see Part 3); the rest were destroyed.”

“By early 1946 ATAIU-SEA in Singapore had gathered some 64 Army and Navy aircraft, most in flyable condition, for shipment to the UK for further evaluation.  An unknown number of these aircraft were actually test flown at Tebrau. Lack of shipping space prevented this shipment and only four eventually arrived in England for Museum purposes.  In any event, funds for testing captured war material were by then severely restricted and most such work already stopped.”

“By the end of 1945 TAIU-SWPA teams had scoured the Japanese mainland and other territories to gather together in Yokohama Naval Base four examples of every Japanese aircraft type never previously tested by the Allies; one of each was to be for the USAAF, USN, RAF and Museum purposes.”

“In the event, those for the RAF have not been accounted for and of the remainder some 115 arrived in America during December 1945, 73 to Army bases and 42 to Naval bases.  Once again funds and interest for further testing were drying up rapidly and only six of the aircraft were actually flown there, four by the Army and two by the Navy.  Out of the 115 total, plus 11 TAIC aircraft already there, 46 are in US Museums, about two thirds of the remainder were scrapped and the rest are probably still corroding away somewhere out of sight.”[1]

[1] Data from an article by Peter Starkings, originally published in JAS Jottings, 1/3, 1995.

USN and USAAF Air Technical Intelligence Units in the Pacific Theatre

The US Navy was also engaged in ATI in the Pacific Theatre[1].  A joint ATI group with members from the US Navy, US Army Air Forces, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and Royal Navy was formed in Australia in 1942.  Later, some US Navy personnel of the group were withdrawn to the United States where they formed a Technical Air Intelligence Unit (TAIU) at Naval Air Station Anacostia, near Washington, DC.  The Anacostia TAIU was supported by other Navy air stations such as those at North Island, San Diego, California, and Patuxent River, Maryland.

(USAAF Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke” coded V-173, shown where it crash-landed on a beach en route from Taiwan to Saigon in 26 November 1941.  This aircraft was removed by the Chinese forces and hidden until it could be assessed by Allied Intelligence, becoming USAAF EB-2, later EB-200.

Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, captured, restored and parked on an airfield in China.   On 26 November 1941, this A6M2, (Serial No. 3372), coded V-173 of the Tainan Naval Air Corps force landed near Teitsan airfield.  It was made airworthy at Kinming by American engineers and flown in Chinese markings with the number P-5016.   Coded EB-2, this aircraft eventually made its way to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, in July 1943, and was renumbered EB-200.  (USAAF Photos)

(USAAF Photos)

Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, captured, restored and parked on an airfield in China.   On 26 November 1941, this A6M2, (Serial No. 3372), coded V-173 of the Tainan Naval Air Corps force landed near Teitsan airfield.  It was made airworthy at Kinming by American engineers and flown in Chinese markings with the number P-5016.   Coded EB-2, this aircraft eventually made its way to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, in July 1943, and was renumbered EB-200.

(USAAF Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, captured, restored and test flown by Allied Air Forces.  Coded EB-201, this aircraft eventually made its way to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, in July 1943.

(IJNAF Photos

Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”.

Mitsubishi A6M2 “Zeke” (Serial No. 4593), Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter Model 21, coded DI-108, as discovered at its crash site on Akutan Island, Alaska by USAAF forces.  On 3 June 1942, Flight Petty Officer Tadayoshi Koga left the flight deck of the IJN Carrier Ryujo in his Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 fighter as part of a task force assigned to attack Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands.  His A6M2, which had been built in February, was on its first operational mission.  On his way back to the Ryujo, Koga found that two bullets had punctured his fuel supply and he informed his flight commander that he intended to land on Akutan Island, designated as an emergency landing field.  Koga did not make the landing field and instead made a forced landing in a marsh.  The aircraft flipped over, breaking the pilot’s neck and killing him.  Five weeks later, a US Navy Consolidated PBY Catalina, making a routine patrol, discovered the Japanese fighter upside down in the marsh.  (USAAF Photos)

Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 22 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, coded DI-108, being recovered from its crash site on Akutan Island, Alaska by USAAF forces.  This aircraft was designated TAIC 1.  (USAAF Photos)

Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 22 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, coded DI-108, (Serial No. 4593), Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter Model 21, coded DI-108, designated TAIC 1.  North Island NAS, fall 1944, after the plane was flown back to California from Anacostia NAS, and used as a training tool by the ComFAirWest training operation flying against squadrons headed west.  It was damaged at NAS North Island on 10 Feb 1945.  (USAAF Photos)

This single-seat fighter was probably one of the greatest prizes of the Pacific war.  Hardly damaged, it was recovered by US Navy personnel and shipped to Naval Air Station (NAS) North Island, California, where it was repaired and exhaustively tested.  It was first flown at North Island in September 1942.  Over the next several months it made mock combat flights against US Navy Grumman F-4F Wildcat and Vought F4U Corsair aircraft and USAAF Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Bell P-39 Airacobra, Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, and North American P-51 Mustang aircraft.  The pilots of the USAAF aircraft were from the Proving Ground at Eglin Field, Florida.  Information gathered during testing of the A6M2 prompted the American aircraft manufacturer Grumman, to lighten the Grumman F4F Wildcat and to install a larger engine on the Grumman F6F Hellcat.[3]

(USN Photos)

Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 22 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, coded DI-108, (Serial No. 4593), Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter Model 21, coded DI-108.   Koga's A6M2 Zero-Sen went to Anacostia, where it was restored and flown by the USN.  Koga’s crashed aircraft, while resurrected temporarily, did not in fact survive the war.  Following its tests by the Navy in San Diego, the Zero was transferred from Naval Air Station North Island to Anacostia Naval Air Station in 1943 (becoming TAIC 1).  In 1944, it was recalled to North Island for use as a training plane for rookie pilots being sent to the Pacific.  As a training aircraft, the Akutan Zero was destroyed during an accident in February 1945 at North Island.  While the Zero was taxiing for a takeoff, a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver lost control and rammed into it. The Helldiver’s propeller sliced the Zero into pieces.  Only small bits (instruments) still exist in museums in Washington and Alaska.  

[1] Data from an article by Peter Starkings, originally published in JAS Jottings, 1/3, 1995.

[2] Phil Butler, War Prizes, p. 165.

[3] Internet: http://www.aviation-history.com/mitsubishi/zero.html.

‍

(USAAF Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, (Serial No. 4340), TAIC 7, with partial Japanese and USAAF FE-130, later T2-130 markings.

(Bill Larkins Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero-Sen (Serial No. 4340), on display at Wright Field, Ohio, 1945. This is the Zero that is presently displayed at the National Air & Space Museum hanging from the 2nd Floor, Second World War gallery in Washington, D.C.

(USAAF Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, coded 61-131, (Serial No. 5450), flown by the 361st Kokutai, found on Saipan in 1944.  It was test flown as No. 29 in the USA.  This aircraft is now on display in the National Museum of Naval Aviation, NAS Pensacola, Florida, painted as EII-140.

 (USAAF Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M7 Model 62 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, (Serial No. 23186), I-E, NASM in storage.  This aircraft was among about 145 captured Japanese aircraft shipped to the U. S. from the Yokosuka, Japan, area in October-November 1945.  The fighter bomber was probably based at Misawa, a testing facility operated by the First Naval Air Technical Bureau (abbreviated Kugisho in Japanese, equivalent to the U. S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics).  After tests were carried out in the United States, the Navy exhibited the airplane outdoors at Naval Air Station Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, for many years.  The NASM acquired the aircraft from Willow Grove on 3 Mar 1962, then lent it to the Bradley Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, for restoration.  Bradley technicians did not complete the project before the aircraft was transferred to the San Diego Aero-Space Museum where a volunteer crew spent more than 8,500 man-hours restoring the airplane.  It remains on exhibit in San Diego.

 (USAAF Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, (Serial No. 2193), TAIC 8.  This particular Zeke was built by Mitsubishi ca December 1943.  It was originally assigned to the 261st Kokutai with tail code 61-108.  It was one of 12 captured by the USMC at Aslito Airfield, Saipan in March 1944.  American intelligence coded this aircraft as TAIC 8.  In the USA, this Zero was transported to the USAAF test organization at Wright Field, Ohio.  Late in 1945 it was relocated at Eglin Field, Florida.  This colour photo was taken in the US some months after the Second World War had ended.

 (USN Photos)

Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, (Serial No. 5357), coded 61-120, was recovered from Saipan in 1945.  This aircraft still has its original Sakae engine.  This aircraft was coded TAIC 5 and test flown at NAS Anacostia.  It is currently flying as Reg No. NX46770, with the Planes of Fame Museum, Chino, California.

(IJAAF Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero Model 52 in IJNAF service.

(USN Photo)

Japanese Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero ("T2-157") abandoned at Munda Airfield (Central Solomon Islands), after the Allied Invasion, September 1943.

USAAF Photo)

Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”,  abandoned on an airfield in Japan being examined by American soldiers.  (