The A6M Zero is without a doubt, the most well known Japanese plane to ever fly. It was also one of those planes that was used from day one to the end of the Pacific war, fighting in all of the major operations that involved Naval aircraft. The aircraft was quite a surprise to Allied pilots when it was first met. Its incredible range often led military planners to start looking for an aircraft carrier, when often it was operated from land bases. It was also a plane that one did not dogfight with as it was incredibly maneuverable. Both of these traits were paramount in Japanese aerial doctrine and more important survivability traits like pilot armor and self -sealing fuel tanks were not included. This was probably the Achilles heel of Japanese aircraft design and while it led to spectacular successes early in the war, it was to eventually cause a huge loss of irreplaceable experienced pilots and air crew later in the conflict.

This particular version of the A6M (the type11) was the initial production model. It started leaving production lines in August of 1940 and was terminated in November of the same year after 64 were built. It differed from the more widely build type 21 in several respects. The main ones were that it was devoid of carrier equipment such as the tailhook and folding wing tips. The first 34 aircraft also had an exhaust that exited the cowling higher up than later versions. It also had a Flettner trim tab on the ailerons. The lower cowling on the type 11 had a small indentation near the front of the oil cooler inlet.

The type 21 followed the type 11 on the production line. 3,368 of these planes were eventually built, a large number of them by Nakajima. In addition to the differences mentioned above, the type 21 did away with the Flettner trim tab with the first 326 aircraft. External mass balances (as on the Bf-109) were fitted as there was some problems with aileron flutter. After the 326th aircraft, internally balance ailerons were introduced and retrofitted to earlier planes. Late build Nakajima planes returned to using the Flettner trim tab. Type 21 and some type 11 models were in continual use throughout the war in 'backwater' bases or as advanced trainers and later as Kamikaze aircraft.