This is a wonderful book. I first came upon it when inventorying my late father's estate, which contained a very old, thoroughly-thumbed and dog-eared copy dating to the first edition. (Dad was a veteran of the Pacific war). I could not put the book down. "Zero!" is a thoroughly honest, non-jingoistic view of the aerial component of the Pacific war from the Japanese perspective, beginning with "The Sino-Japanese Incident" (Japan's war of aggression against China) through the defeat of Japan by the United States. While not everything in the book is necessarily correct, I believe that most or all readers will agree that the authors were scrupulously honest in their writing, and they convey the facts of the war as they saw it.

The title of the book, "Zero" reflects the authors' view that the design characteristics of the famed Zero fighter aircraft were central to Japan's waging of the Pacific war. As of 7 December 1941 the Zero could outfly, outdistance, and outfight any fighter that the United States had in service, and was rightly feared and respected by allied fighter pilots. So were the Japanese pilots themselves, who were largely battle-hardened veterans of tough aerial campaigns over China fought during the late 1930s. The Zero's range and other attributes were what made much of Japan's Pacific campaign possible, as the Zero had an unprecedented combat radius which the authors explain was central to Japan's strategy of establishing a tough perimeter for its aspiring empire.

The book is fascinating. It fully explains how the earlier American fighters were outclassed by the Zero, how the P-38 Lockheed Lightning was the first viable answer by America to the Zero (it had wildly different flight characteristics which required both sides to modify their tactics), and how finally, by late 1943 newer American designs i.e. the Hellcat, Mustang, and Corsair, finally relegated the Zero to obsolescence even as America gained the upper hand.

Other wonderful insights abound. Japan never gave its heros medals, not even to the great Japanese pilot/ace Saburo Sakai (a great chapter is devoted to him--see also the book "Samurai" and my review thereof)-- the authors' regret and perhaps resentment of this policy is plain. Japan was in awe of America's ability to hugely supply distant outposts shortly after launching an invasion--Japanese forces in the Pacific were always undersupplied and not only due to American action--the Japanese never really developed a modern logistical capability equal to the demands of global war. Similarly, the authors lament that Japan simply did not attach importance to such things as insect control and other dimensions of jungle hygiene for their outposts. This lowered the efficiency of the men markedly, as no doubt bureaucrats in Tokyo expected the men in distant jungles to overcome disease, hunger, and discomfort with warrior zeal. And yet, throughout all of this, the American reader will gain a respect for the determination, discipline and dedication of the Japanese foe of the time.

I have never read a better book about the Pacific war. This one is a keeper.

As a B-29 co-pilot, Saipan, 1945 (883rd BS, 500th BG, 73rd Wing), I was hugely impressed to read this sober, carefully chronicled report of how it was for the Japanese. The book is written by two intelligent, loyal Japanese aviation experts who tell it as it was. No boasting, no whining, no alibis. The authors detail the Sino-Japanese war of the late 30's, the attack on Pearl Harbour, Guadalcanal, Midway, and there are 2 chapters about our B-29's, starting with the chapter, "Defence of The Mainland, The Superfortress Appears". Some of us in the Marianas felt uncomfortable about the fire bombing in the Spring and Summer of '45. Now for the first time in my life, the Japanese explain to my complete satisfaction that the fire bombing was what ended the war, not the 2 atomic bombs. The book contains no bitterness, they just tell it as it was. This book should be a must for everyone who had anything to do with the air war in the Pacific in World War 2!

It's been a long time since I read the book, but I particularly recall Okumiya telling about losing an eye in aerial combat, and returning to fly and fight again, as a one-eyed fighter pilot. Also, the accounts of how he felt about seasoned pilots being "invited" to fly Kamikaze missions; and his description of the conditions late in the war when the Japanese pilots were out-planed, out-gunned, out-numbered, and virtually starving on remote islands. I think this book is well worth the read.

For the cerebral military history and aviation history buff, it's hard to get a better book than this one. Mr. Horikoshi was the leader of the team that designed the famous Zero, the plane that scared the Allies silly for the couple of years around Pearl Harbor. The book focuses on what he knows best: the design of the plane, including its context in fighter plane designs of the pre-war years. Toward the end, there are some agonized comments about attempts to design successors to and modifications to the Zero after the Americans developed tactics and aircraft specifically to combat it. Combat results are described in only the most cursory way, so many military history buffs may be disappointed that the only deaths recounted in detail are those of test pilots. For those interested in the more cerebral side of military history -- the weapons systems, the economic and logistical problems, and so on -- there are few books as rewarding as this one.

There aren't first-person accounts of dogfights or bombing attacks here; Horikoshi never participated in combat. Nor is there anything substantive here about the training of the pilots that flew those first Zeros and deserve a large amount of the credit for the victories the design produced in 1940-1942. Instead there is a meticulous recap of the decisions that went into building the plane, and the reader gets keen insight into how an aeronatical engineer must think in order to create a near-legendary design. After reading this book, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that if Imperial Japan of the 1930's had had better engine designs than the ones available to Mr. Horikoshi, the road from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay would have been longer and bloodier than it worked out to be.