this airplane were contained in Informational Intelligence Summary No. 59, Director of Intelligence Service, Headquarters, U. S. Army Air Forces. A brief recapitulation of some of the principal features is included here to serve as background for comments of the Proving Ground test officers, and to supplement the earlier Summary.
Conclusions and recommendations are the considered opinions of the best officers and pilots who conducted the trials. There opinions are disseminated for the information of all concerned, but in no sense are they to be considered directives or operational instructions.
Appended at the end of the summary are fifteen pages of photographs showing instruments and controls in the cockpit of the Zero fighter, together with a series of views of the aircraft in flight and on the ground.
Pertinent extracts from the Proving Ground reports and Navy reports are set forth in the following pages.
EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT OF
ARMY AIR FORCES PROVING GROUND GROUP
Eglin Field, Florida
1. CONCLUSIONS:
The Zero fighter, because of its low wing loading, has superior maneuverability to all our present service type aircraft.
It is necessary to maintain a speed of over three hundred (300) miles per hour indicated to successfully combat this airplane.
In developing tactics against the Zero, cognizance should be taken of two facts:
- Slow rate of roll of the Zero at high speeds.
- Inability of the Zero engine to continue operating under negative acceleration.
The engine performance of the Zero is superior to the present service type engine without turbo superchargers. This superiority is recognizable in the fact that maximum manifold pressure can be maintained from sea level to sixteen thousand (16,000) feet.
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