n.
in full Mitsubishi A6M Zero
Japanese fighter aircraft of World War II. A single-seat, low-wing monoplane made by Mitsubishi, it was introduced in 1940, the 2,600th anniversary of the crowning of Japan's legendary first emperor, Jimmu , and named for the "zero-year" celebration.
It had a top speed of 350 mph (565 kph) at nearly 20,000 ft (6,000 m). When it first appeared, it could outmaneuver every plane it encountered; Allied fighters could not defeat it until 1943. Many Zeros became kamikaze craft in the war's closing months.