1945 Article On The "Zeke 52"

[Pips]

Posted over at J-Aircraft is an article reproduced from the American magazine Air Force, dated April 1945. It's an evaluation of the relative performance of the A6M5 against current US aircraft. Makes for interesting reading. Link here:
http://www.j-aircraft.org/smf/index.php?topic=12428.0

Keep in mind that it is in the language of the day.

And for those who simply want to read it here:

Flying the Zeke 52


By Herbert Ringold
Air Force Staff

The reputation of Japanese fighter plane is somewhat similar to the community standing of certain shady ladies: it all depends upon whom you ask. Talk to people who knew them in their youth and you get a good report; speak to those who have observed them recently and you get a different impression.

According to our Army and Navy pilots who have flown the Zeke 52 – the latest of the “Zero” class tested and currently the standard Jap Navy Fighter – both opinions are correct.

Col. J. M. Hayward, chief, Technical Data Laboratory at Wright Field, reports, “Against the original P-40, the Zeke had certain advantages. But compared to our P-38, 47, and 51, the Zeke is frankly, a second rate airplane. I don’t mean to imply that the Zeke won’t cause us a lot of trouble. At altitudes, it can climb faster than our Lightning and Thunderbolt, and nothing we have in combat can turn with it at slow speeds below 10,000 feet. But in every other category, the Zeke is badly outclassed.”

Commander Fitzhugh L. Palmer, Assistant Tactical Test officer at Patuxent Naval Air Station adds, “If you fight the Zeke right, it will be nothing but a turkey shoot. But remember that it takes only one bullet to kill you – and you’re just as dead as if you were shot down by the best airplane in the world.”

Both service reports agree on one important factor: the Japs have much better airplanes than the Zeke 52. But as yet there are no complete laboratory reports on any later models. Fragmentary information from the field, much of it still in the rumor stage, indicate that the Frank I has a speed close to 425 mph, and the Betty 22, a twin-engine medium bomber, may be faster than either our B-25 or B-26. However, when our unemotional test pilots analyze these figures, the chances are they will be subject to considerable shrinkage. In the meanwhile, we do have the facts on the Zeke 52, successor to the Hamp.

The Zeke 52 is a single-engine single place fighter with a radial aircooled engine. It has no armor plate of any kind. Its armament consists of two 7.7 mm (approximately 30 caliber) machine guns synchronized through the propeller from the nose cowling and two 20 mm cannon in the wings. As Lt. Clyde Andrews, one of the Navy test pilots, says, “A lot of people used to say that the Japs were clever when they decided to substitute speed and maneuverability for pilot protection and firepower. However, close examination reveals that they were successful in attaining these essentials only at low altitudes. Above 10,000 feet these so-called superiorities tend to disappear.”

Take for example, the rate of climb. At 10,000 feet the Zeke 52 climbs at 2,900 feet per minute. That is 300 to 600 feet per minute faster than the P38G and P47G at the same altitude. But look at the differences at 15,000 feet. There, the rate of climb of the Zeke drops to 2,100 feet per minute, while the Lightning and the Thunderbolt are from 100 to 400 feet per minute faster. At 20,000 feet the Zeke climbs at 1,500 feet per minute, while the 38G and 47G are faster by 500 and 800 feet per minute. And compared to the P51B, the Zeke is even worse, for the Mustang can outclimb it at any altitude.

You have heard, probably, that the Zeke has a terrific rate of climb. Actually, it only seems to be climbing fast because it goes up at an extraordinary sharp angle. At 5,000 feet, the Zeke climbs at about a 35 degree angle which, our technically minded expert tells us is phenomenal. But, you will be happy to know, it doesn’t get there any faster.

In comparative speeds, any of our standard fighters, including the P-40N, can move considerably faster than the Zeke. The Zeke’s best speed is at 20,000 feet where it can travel at 335 mph straight and level. At that altitude, the slowest of our planes goes some 15 mph faster while the Mustang can whip along about 80 mph faster. All these figures give the benefit an analytical doubt, for at higher altitudes -25,000- the Mustang is at least 100 mph speedier than the Zeke.

“The Zeke can do most everything fairly well – at slow speeds,” reports Lt. Herbert Jay, USNR. “It rolls beautifully below 150 mph, but when you get up around 170 to 185, it starts to tighten up, and it 225 mph it becomes extremely difficult to roll. The aileron action is poor at the stick gets very heavy. The best characteristic of the Zeke is its ability to turn – and even then, it has that advantage only at slow speeds and at low and medium attitudes. Around 150 mph, it can turn on a dime and return nine cents change. But at 225 mph, great force is required to maneuver the airplane and above that speed it is almost impossible to turn and still retain complete control. The Zeke was built to fly low and slow.”

Lieutenant J. Michael Kirchberg, USNR, reports that a Jap pilot may be able to dive the Zeke at high speeds but when he pulls out, the whole plane may not come with him. “The thing is so tinny,” he says, “that I was scared to death to dive it too fast for fear it would fall apart. There is very little control of the ailerons in a diving speed.”

Generally speaking, the Zeke is an easy plane to fly. However, in landing, complications set in. With respect to the wheel and flap levers, the following procedure must be used to land a Zeke: Wheel lever down, flap lever down, flap lever to neutral, wheel lever to neutral before you hit the ground. Then, wheel lever down, flap lever up, flap lever back to neutral and wheel lever back to neutral.

Strangely enough, some of the instruments are exact copies of those in our present aircraft. The Jap radio compass, for example, is so exact a duplicate of one of Fairchild instrument that some of the parts are interchangeable with it. One compass still had the Fairchild trade mark on it. The only instruments which were criticized by the pilots were the gas gauges. Of these, Lieutenant Andrews remarked, “They are undependable and inaccurate.” But he has a prejudiced opinion. On his first test flight, he ran out of gas.

Major F. E. “Al” Hollar, U. S. Marine Corps, takes an unfavorable view of the airplane. “It is a hydraulic nightmare,” he says. “It leaks fluid continually. What’s more, it’s a firetrap. I don’t care how fast or maneuverable a plane may be, some armor plate and leak-proof gas tanks are necessary. Don’t get the idea though that the Japs will continue to turn out airplanes of this poor quality. Compared with the earlier Zeke, the 52 climbs about 300 feet a minute faster, it’s about 150 pounds heavier, and it has about 1,300 feet more ceiling. And they are getting better.”

Conclusive evidence that the Japs are getting better all the time is found in a late report on a Zeke captured in the Philippines. It was equipped with a third 20 mm cannon in addition to its standard firepower. The new cannon, mounted behind the pilot, was inclined upward so that it fired up at an angle of thirty degrees over the pilot’s head, clearing the propeller arc.

Other reports indicate that the light 7.7 mm machine guns have been replaced with 12.7 mm machine guns and later models may carry a 13 mm gun.

The general test pilot opinion of the Zeke 52 adds up to this: it is like flying an AT-6 with 1500 horsepower. The Jap pilot has a very light airplane with a good engine, so the recommendation is not to try to turn with it at low altitude and never dogfight with it. Don’t follow it in a shallow loop for it will be on your tail before you level off. Given the fact that you can go higher, farther, and faster with full armor protection and superior firepower, you can elect your own tactics against it. As Lt. Jay says, “The Zeke 52 is just another airplane with a couple of good characteristics.”