The Akutan Zero, also known as Koga's Zero (古賀のゼロ) and the Aleutian Zero, was a type 0 model 21 Mitsubishi A6M Zero Japanese fighter aircraft piloted by Petty Officer Tadayoshi Koga, that crash-landed on Akutan Island, Alaska Territory, during World War II. It was found intact by the Americans in July 1942 and became the first Zero acquired by the United States during the war that could be restored to airworthy condition.[1][2] It was repaired and flown by American test pilots. As a result of information gained from these tests, American tacticians were able to devise ways to defeat the Zero, which was the Imperial Japanese Navy's primary fighter plane throughout the war.
The Akutan Zero has been described as "a prize almost beyond value to the United States",[3] and "probably one of the greatest prizes of the Pacific War".[4] Japanese historian and JASDF lieutenant general Masatake Okumiya stated that the acquisition of the Akutan Zero "was no less serious" than the Japanese defeat at the Battle of Midway, and that it "did much to hasten Japan's final defeat".[5] Nonetheless, historian John Lundstrom and others challenge "the contention that it took dissection of Koga's Zero to create tactics that beat the fabled airplane".[6]
The Akutan Zero was destroyed in a training accident in 1945. Parts of it are preserved in several museums in the United States.
- ^ Rearden, Enemy [page needed].
- ^ James F. Lansdale (1999). "War Prize: The Capture of the First Japanese Zero Fighter in 1941". Archived from the original on January 6, 2010. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
- ^ Rearden, Fighter, p. x.
- ^ Larry Dwyer (2003). "Mitsubishi A6M Zero-Sen – Japan". The Aviation History On-Line Museum. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
- ^ Okumiya, pp. 160–63
- ^ Lundstrom, p. 535.