The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a light-weight carrier-based fighter aircraft employed by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945.

It is universally known as Zero from its Japanese Navy designation, Type 0 Carrier Fighter (Rei shiki Kanjo sentoki), taken from the last digit of the Imperial year 2600 (1940), when it entered service. In Japan it was unofficially referred to as both Rei-sen and Zero-sen. The official Allied code name was Zeke (Hamp for the A6M3 model 32 variant); while this was in keeping with standard practice of giving boys' names to fighters, it is not definitively known if this was chosen for its similarity to "Zero".

Pictured here is a 1:48 scale replica of an Imperial Japanese Navy Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" Type 21 fighter that was piloted by Yoshio Shiga, who was embarked upon the IJN Aircraft Carrier Kaga, then attacking Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, during December 1941. Now in stock!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 9-inches
Length: 7-1/4-inches

Release Date: October 2023

Historical Account: "Last to be Sunk" - Zuikaku ("Auspicious Crane") was a Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Her complement of aircraft took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor that formally brought the United States into the Pacific War, and she fought in several of the most important naval battles of the war, before being sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

One of six carriers to participate in the Pearl Harbor attack, Zuikaku was the last of the six to be sunk in the war (four in the Battle of Midway and Shōkaku in the Battle of the Philippine Sea).