On 8th December, 1941, Type 97 Carrier Torpedo Bomber from the aircraft carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku themselves over Hawaii under the escort of Zero-Sen fighters. While the Zero-Sens commanded the air, the attacking units delivered attacks against the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor and air bases of Hawaii. The success of the surprise attack was wired to the whole world in a code Tra, Tra, Tra. This sparked the Pacific War. The Japanese made a brilliant drive as far as to the Aleutian Islands in the north and the Indian Ocean. The Zero-Sen fought in the van of advancing Japanese forces, gained mastery over the two oceans and raged about freely. The Allied Powers including the United States and Britain that had not been informed of the existence of the Zero-Sen were surprised at its high performance and the Terrible Zero Fighter made officers and men's blood run cold.
In air battles around the Philippines, Zero-Sens left the Takao base of Formosa together with Type 1 Attack Bomber to make an extended shuttle flight of more than 1,600 km over the ocean and had aerial flights with British Buffalos and Hurricanes as well as American P-36s and P-40s which tried to intercept the Japanese planes. The fights resulted in a signal victory for the Zero-Sens. While the number of Zero-Sens lost was only a few, about 300 Allied planes in the Philippines including B-17 bombers, which were then called impregnable air fortresses and the Americans were proud of, were shot down in only a few days. The Allies responded to the Zero-Sen with the new Ship-Based Fighter F4F Wildcat of the United States Navy and the Spitfire of the Royal Air Force. Particularly the FrF produced contemporaneously with the Zero-Sen was much expected as the same ship based fighter having almost the same engine horsepower. The F4F was no match for the Zero-Sen in fighting maneuverability. In the attack of Port Darwin, Australia, from the Rabaul base, the Zero-Sen showed superior circling ability and overwhelmed the Britain's proud spitfire in dogfights. The spitfire was a fighter which had beaten the Messerschmitt Bf-109 of the German Air Force in dogfights by making the most of its proud circling ability. Thus the Japanese fighter was requited to be Invincible Zero-Sen. The Zero-Sens which achieved these victories in the initial stage of the Pacific War were called Model 21, an improved version of the early Model 11 that showed activity over the Chinese continent. The wings of the Model 21 were designed to permit 50cm of each tip to fold upwards to facilitate carrier stowage. Zero-Sens of the Models 11 and 21 manufactured and prepared before the beginning of the Pacific War totaled only about 400.
After the middle stage of the war, the Americans came to use against the Zero-Sen a great number of new planes such as the Ship-Based fighter F6F Hellcat mounting and engine of 2,000 hp class and the P-38, P-47 and P-51 fighters, and gradually regained their power. Meanwhile, a number of improved versions of the Zero-Sen were also produced, but the Zero-Sen was almost the only one Japanese fighter type that fought through the war. The production continued to the end of the war and totaled to more than 10,425 which was an all time record production in the Japanese aircraft history. More than half of them- 6,545 -were manufactured by Nakajima Aircraft between January 1941 and the end of the war. The Nakajima production included 327 Zero-Sens with float named the Type 2 Seaplane Fighter.
Zero-Sen at the World's Highest Level
Some of the distinguished features of the Zero-Sen which achieved the brilliant war results mentioned before are as follows: 1. Long cruising range. This owes much to the low fuel consumption of the reliable Nakajima Sakae engine. 2. Good maneuverability and circling ability obtained through drastic weight reduction plus speed and acceleration well matching with them. Strong in dogfights. 3. Powerful 20mm machine guns.
The Zero-Sen was well balanced in all these features and the performance was above the world level. The fact that Zero-Sen pilots gained battle experience in China and were very skilled also contributed to the Invincible Zero-Sen.