Luftwaffe Mitsubishi A6M, Jagdgeschwader 27, France August 1940

[nönöbär]

Mitsubishi A6M, Luftwaffe JG27

The Plane:

 In Spring of 1939, Germany and Japan signed a cooperation in assisting each other in aircraft development. As part of this agreement, Luftwaffe testpilots were allowed to test new Japanese Army or Navy aircraft, and Japanese pilots were able to do the same with Luftwaffe aircraft at Rechlin.
 
 After the Mitsubishi A6M made its maiden flight in April 1939, it was first flown by Luftwaffe Leutnanet Schneider in August 1939. In his reports to Berlin he stated that "... the plane has a good maneuverability and an range more than twice than the Me 109...".
 
 In Summer 1940 - after the fall of France - the Luftwaffe shifted its main focus on Britain. During the planning of Luftwaffe attacks on South England, Luftwaffe officers criticized the short operational range of the Me 109, giving it only 20 Minutes of operational time over the target.
 Surprisingly, the Luftwaffe Oberkommando listened to those warning voices and made a request to Japan to buy (or better exchange) Mitsubishi A6M fighters for the Luftwaffe Jagdgeschwader in France.
 As the A6M just entered production in Japan, the usage of those planes in the Luftwaffe could be used as a operational test and therefore Japan agreed to this proposal.
 
 In late July 1940, 36 Mitsubishi A6M were flown form Japan to Germany, using several stops in the soviet Union. Two aircraft were damaged during the transfer flight but the 34 remaining were quickly integrated into the Jagdgeschwader at the French coast.
 
 During the initial attacks on Adlertag - August 13 - the Mitsubishi A6M of Jagdgeschwader 27 took part and surprised the RAF with the unknown planes. Partly flown by Japanese pilots who transferred the planes to Germany and France, the A6M quickly was able to achieve several kills.
 When the Me 109 had to return to France because of fuel shortage, the Mitsubishis could stay in the sky above Britain and protect the Luftwaffe bombers.
 
 However, the initial attacks also showed the problems of the A6M: Without good armor protection, the plane was easily show down with a few hits and caught fire quickly.
 Overall, the usage of the Japanese fighters proved to be successful during the Battle of Britain, but the Japanese need for those planes by itself prevented that more of those fighters could be used by the Luftwaffe.



Various views of the Mitsubishi A6M







The Model:

The Mitsubishi A6M is made from the current Airfix kit which is quite good to build. Really a big difference to the old Airfix kits I build so far. Made OOB, only the colors and decals are different to the original. Decals were taken form a HobbyBoss Me 109 (got a pile of those kits fro 3€ each, cheaper than getting some extra decals).
The model is airbrushed with Revel AquaColor.

[zenrat]

It looks right as a German.  Apart from the long canopy maybe.
I wonder how a zero would look with an Fw 190 canopy?

Good job.  Love the base especially the Swim Wagon (I'm nearly as keen on boatcars as I am on boatplanes).

[Librarian]

That's a beautiful piece of work , very believable. I'm glad you avoided the mottles. The 190 canopy would be fun to try.

[PR19_Kit]

Why does that look so plausible? Brilliant work. 

[NARSES2]

Why does that look so plausible? Brilliant work. 

Agree with both sentiments 

[chiglet]

Look at Hush Kit
http://hushkit.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/zeroluftwaffe.jpg

Great site with loads of "real world" wifs   

[nönöbär]

Look at Hush Kit
http://hushkit.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/zeroluftwaffe.jpg

Great site with loads of "real world" wifs   

Hmm, I did not know this one, but looks quite familiar

[Dizzyfugu]

It looks right as a German.  Apart from the long canopy maybe.
I wonder how a zero would look with an Fw 190 canopy?

I rather wonder how such a zero would look like with a BMW radial grafted to the nose? Hmmm...

[dumaniac]

nice job