Mitsubishi A6M2 ZeroBII-I24, Pilot Unknown, 2nd attack wave fighter escort, 1st aircraft tolaunch, IJN Carrier Hiryu, Pearl Harbor Raid, 7th December, 1941Even before the first attack wave had hit military facilities on the HawaiianIsland of Oahu at the commencement of the Pearl Harbor raid, the secondof three planned attack waves were already taking off from their homecarriers, which were steaming through the Pacific Ocean. Still unawareof what opposition they would be facing, this second attack waveconsisted of 35 Mitsubishi Zero fighters, 78 Aichi Val dive bombersand 54 Nakajima Kate bombers, some equipped with torpedoes.The primary mission of the Zero fighters was to protect the strikeaircraft from potential US fighter attack, but if opposition provedto be light, their secondary task was to strafe the airfields on theIsland, destroying as many US aircraft as they could on the ground.Additional Zeros were retained to perform combat air patrols,protecting the naval task force from possible attack. Although thepilot of this particular Zero is unknown, it is thought that this fighterwas the first aircraft to take off from the second attack wave on themorning of 7th December 1941 and is unusual because the last numbersof its tail markings cannot be seen, as it appears to have recently requiredthe replacement of its rudder. It carries the two blue stripes which identifythis as a fighter from the Imperial Japanese Navy carrier Hiryu,part of the Second Carrier Division.
| Product Code | AA33109 |
