Zeros had no armor to protect the pilot and did not have self-sealing fuel tanks.
Japanese pilots were trained to engage enemies in slow speed dogfights. Above 275 mph the Zero’s excellent handling diminished, making tight high speed turns nearly impossible. The Zero’s maximum safe dive speed was 350 mph. Above that speed the fighter lost the ability to roll and the skin on the wings would begin to wrinkle. It the pilot pushed harder the Zero might shed its wings.
The Zeke’s roll rate at any speed was slower than all U.S. fighters of WW II. A plane’s roll rate is important because all acrobatic maneuvers with the exception of the loop start with a roll. If a P-40 latched onto the tail of a Zeke and the Zeke banked to turn away, a quick reacting pilot could roll his Warhawk inside his target. For a brief period the unfortunate Zero would be under his guns and fly right through his line of fire.
Zeros had no armor to protect the pilot and did not have self-sealing fuel tanks.
Agreed but as it concerns armor to protect the pilot, I commented to another poster that I have never seen a photo of a smiling American pilot showing off the dents in the armor plate behind him.
Japanese pilots were trained to engage enemies in slow speed dogfights. Above 275 mph the Zero’s excellent handling diminished, making tight high speed turns nearly impossible.
There is no perfect airplane. All aircraft design involves tradeoffs. For the Japanese, the Zero gave them a plane that had the kind of tremendous range needed in the Pacific, a plane that could operate from carriers and a plane that could best all known fighters in 1940. The problem for the Japanese is they did not set about immediately designing a successor.