It's also puzzling to say, according to the regulations of the Japanese Navy.

The planes delivered to the military have nothing to do with the manufacturers.

Therefore, the specific situation of the test flight, even Jiro Horikoshi, the chief designer, has no right to know.

However, this accident may have been related to the design of the airframe, so Horikoshi Jiro was allowed to participate in the investigation of the accident as an exception.

But his role is that of a mud bodhisattva, so he can only sit there stupidly and listen.

According to the investigation, the prototype No. 2 disintegrated in the air.

After the test pilot parachuted, a personal parachute broke away and fell into the sea and died.

However, this accident has nothing to do with the body, and it is likely that it was caused by tremors.

Tremor refers to the self-excited vibration that occurs when the aircraft is in flight due to the action of aerodynamic force, inertial force coupling, etc., and the amplitude does not attenuate. But when it is conveyed to the entire airframe, the structure of the aircraft disintegrates in an instant.

After investigation, it was found that the elevator balance counterweight link was severely twisted and deformed.

The same accident occurred on the No. 1 plane, but the pilot was lucky not to fall to the ground.

Finding the crux of the problem is easy to solve.

As long as the connecting rod is strengthened, there has been no similar accident in the tens of thousands of zeros since then.

In March 1940, the "A6M2" as a next-generation carrier-based fighter was already a foregone conclusion, and Mitsubishi began production in small batches.

In order to further test the performance of the "A6M2", in June 1946, two detachments were stationed at Hankou Airport in mainland China.

On July 24, 1940, the Japanese Navy announced that the "12 Test Carrier-based Fighters" were officially put into active service.

The year is 2,600 according to the Imperial Chronicle of Japan.

In accordance with the tradition of the past, the model of the weapon was the last two digits of the epoch.

Then, the weapons born this year will be named "Zero Zero", but this name is a bit awkward.

In this regard, the Japanese Army simply added one in the top 00, and the weapons produced this year were called "Baishi". ”

For the practice of the army red deer, the Navy, of course, scoffed, and they simply erased a zero.

Therefore, the new fighter was named "A6M2 Zero Type 1 carrier-based fighter". Abbreviated as "Zero" or "Zero." ”

On September 13, 1940, under the escort of 13 "Zero Wars", 54 "Type 96" land attack planes bombed Chongqing, the capital of the Chinese Nationalist Government.

According to the experience of the Huaxia Air Force, it is impossible for bombers to be escorted by fighters for such a long-distance range.

Therefore, the Huaxia Air Force immediately took off 25 fighters to intercept the devil bombers.

Prior to this, under the guidance of "Mrs. Song," the Huaxia Air Force had deposited all the money for the purchase of aircraft in the bank for interest.

It was only when the war broke out that the chairman realized that he did not have a plane at hand.

The most ironic thing is that the countries of Europe and the United States, which were once hopeful, did not lend a hand.

On the contrary, Soviet Russia, which the chairman of the NPC National Committee had been shouting for and killing, provided China with a large number of combat aircraft through the "Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact."

This includes a large number of I-15 and I-16 fighters.

At the time, they weren't bad.

In particular, the performance of the I-16 surpassed the "Type 97" land battles and the "Type 96" ship battles of the Japanese State.

It was even more handy to deal with the bombers of the Japanese state.

The Huaxia Air Force, which was on standby in the air, found that there were several 97 bombers in front, but there were also a number of unknown planes around it.

The Huaxia pilots, who lacked intelligence, judged that those were the new dive bombers of the Japanese army, after all, the other side did not have fighters that could fly far.

"We can do a big job!"

A smile overflowed the face of the Huaxia pilot.

If you blow it up, you can run, there is nothing so cheap in the world, and today you must avenge the people who were killed and injured by the bombing.

However, the Chinese pilots did not expect that those "Type 97" bombers were actually reconnaissance planes of the Japanese state.

They immediately notified the escorting "Zero" fighter formation, and the devils who had already sharpened their knives were immediately killed.

Finally, in the sky above Bishan in Sichuan, the two sides encountered.

The Huaxia pilots at the end of the team suddenly noticed that white dots were falling from high in the air, and then some fighters in the group of the I-16 planes caught fire and fell.

"There's a sneak attack from a ghost plane!"

According to past experience, the Huaxia pilots immediately dispersed the fleet.

They want to take advantage of the fighters' good horizontal maneuverability and bite the enemy's tail through tactical maneuvers.

If you can't bite, try your best to hold your opponent back.

Once the devil's plane runs out of fuel, it becomes a dead tiger.

Surprisingly, the devil's plane is surprisingly fast, and its maneuverability is also higher than that of the I-15 and I-16.

The "high-speed plus circling" tactic used by the Huaxia Air Force has actually failed.

The pilots had to make constant sharp turns to get out of the enemy's attack.

However, this results in a loss of energy, resulting in a constant drop in height.

In just five minutes after the start of the battle, the entire air combat area dropped sharply from 3,500 meters to about 1,000 meters.

Even the ordinary people watching the battle knew that the pilots in China were "terrible!" ”

Now, the only hope is that the devil runs out of fuel, and the Huaxia pilots are struggling to hold on.

But after half an hour of air fighting, the devil's plane had no intention of retreating at all, but became more ferocious.

If the fight continues, the Huaxia Air Force, which has no power to fight back, will surely be completely annihilated in the sky over Bishan.

"Withdraw, withdraw!"

At this point, the Chinese pilots could only retreat with hatred.

They disorganized their formations one after another and left the battlefield as single planes.

When they landed at Suining Airport, the pilots found that their fighters had been beaten full of holes.

Fortunately, the devil plane did not take the opportunity to sneak attack, otherwise on this day, the Huaxia Air Force would have disappeared.

Looking at the scarred fighters and the tragic losses, the airport personnel could only burst into tears.

On that day, the Huaxia Air Force lost 13 fighters and 11 forced landings, one of which was repaired and still serviceable.

But the vigilante members who were guarding the militia did not burn it down when they smoked.

And even more distressing was the loss of pilots, of whom 10 were killed and 8 were wounded.

After that, the Huaxia Air Force entered the darkest days.

Once the air raid sirens sounded, the pilots did not fly to meet the enemy, but evacuated to other aircraft airports for evacuation.

It wasn't until the Citi Volunteer Air Corps joined that the situation was gradually reversed.

The Japanese naval aviation, which had won a great victory, triumphantly claimed that it had shot down 27 fighters and had lost none of its own.

However, they also hide a fact.

Most of the pilots who participated in the war that day were still novices.

By the time the battle began, half of them even forgot to throw out the drop tank.

It was the excellent performance of the "Zero" fighter that saved the lives of those "rookies".

Seeing this result, the Japanese Navy was of course greatly satisfied.

The new commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, even threatened:

"I need 1,000 Zero carrier-based fighters and 1,000 land attack aircraft to be enough."

Just as Mitsubishi struggled to expand production, another piece of bad news came.

A freshly manufactured "Zero" disintegrated in the air, and the veteran Yokosuka Air Force fighter squadron commander Captain Shimokawa Manbei was killed.