The Zero, an Aussie design???

[Ross_Moorhouse]

I think you may have come across a bit of good old Aussie leg pulling. We are well known for this type of behaviour....

[Billy_Bishop]

If the guy(?) is trying to pull my leg, he certainly seems serious enough. And I'm not the only one telling him otherwise.

But hey, anything is possible!

VBR,

Al Lowe

[gregoire]

There was a few year ago a long article on the subject "was the zero us design" in the french fana de l'aviation the result of the investigation was no it was a purely japaness design with borowing to us design (NACA ...) but no more than in any other design. In conclussion it was stated that it was purely a japaness design but also that the plane was the ultimat result with the technology used. May I remind the world that evrybody have borowed from someone else and that include the wright brother. the design that have not borowed anything from an other design have (most of the time) been a faillure.

[Lufbery]

However, and this is a big however: The engine used in the Zero was a direct copy of an early P&W engine that Japan had bought the license for and then refused to pay royalties on. They also did that with the cannons, going so far as to kidnap two executives from the Swiss firm that made them (Oelikron sp?). The two executives were sent back home after the war.

So, the Zero was a Japanese design, but they borrowed parts of it from other sources.

Regards,

[gregoire]

yes but using the same logic the T34 was an american tank (suspension) the yak was a french plane (the motor was based on a french hispano) the MiG15 was english. and the best sopwith did not produce 100% english plane as they were powered by a french motor or a motor based on a french motor.
And in fact most of plane in ww1 were french as they use a stick that was a Robert Esnault Perrier (REP) invention

[Lufbery]

Now now now. I said the Zero was a Japanese design, it's just not a completely original Japanese design.

-Drew

I suspect that this all descends from a need, in the early 1940s, to believe that the Japanese couldn't have achieved such a degree of aerial superiority on their own. It's a form of racism not dissimilar from that behind arguments that the pyramids must have been built by aliens (because certainly "wogs" could never have done anything that complex...).

In the early '20s the Japanese did indeed copy Western designs, and bring in Western designers (Herbert Smith among them; he designed Japan's first locally built fighter, IIRC). But by the time the A6M was developed the Japanese were into their second decade of building indigenous designs.

[leo]

Speaking of copies, wasn't the Spitfire copied from the Heinkel
He-70?

[Lufbery]

FYI, here's some info on the development of the Zero:

http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/baug..._other/a6m.html

Regards,

Speaking of copies, wasn't the Spitfire copied from the Heinkel
He-70?

The Spitfire and the Heinkel have a shared wing planform true but as far as I am aware there is no other similarity between the designs.But are you aware that the Rolls Roce concern bought a Heinkel and re-engined it with one of their own engines?[I think it was a Kestrel but it was certainly a watercooled design as the aircraft concerned looks wonderfully sleek especially for a thirties design ]