Раз уж такая пьянка пошла там же интервью Сабуро Сакая о Зеро:
http://www.microsoft.com/games/comba...cles_sakai.asp

Сабуро Сакай о Зеро
"Interviewer: What would you tell new pilots about the Zero?

Saburo Sakai: I would tell new pilots the following things about the Zero...
Good points: Dogfighting prowess and a quick rate of climb. And the 7.7mm are very reliable.
Bad points: Doesn't perform well in dives. Enemy fire causes fires and easily damages the airframe. "

"Interviewer: What advice did you actually give?

Saburo Sakai:
Strong points: The responsiveness of the control stick, the range, and the reliability of the 7.7mm guns
Weak points: Understanding of group tactics. Methods of evading enemy fire when surprised by the enemy. Use sudden control adjustments, pulling away in the opposite direction of the line of fire, slide to the side, and continue to do this.

In wartime, you're afraid when you meet your enemy for the first time. Never be isolated from the leader. Keep your cool and posture - never panic. When you enter an area where the enemy can attack you, adjust the propeller pitch so you won't burn up your engine in a dogfight. Make sure you switch your fuel to main tank and drop your drop tanks. We used drop tanks over enemy territory, but rarely over our own territory. "


Вот еще о боях в целом
"Interviewer: Did your men have strengths and weaknesses in their flying skills?

Saburo Sakai: Our strength was the individual skill of our pilots (i.e. how to fight one-on-one, and the marksmanship of the pilots - we didn't let our skills lapse, we kept practicing the same things over and over). That was the only strength of Japan in the war. Our weakness on the other hand was our group tactics. When you talk about features of a car or an airplane, they are just machines. They themselves don't fly. They don't try. It's the combination of pilot and machine. The pilot who can maximize the feature of the machine - that is the strong pilot. The good pilot. The Zero pilot can see three hundred and sixty degrees and can find anything much quicker. The pilot of the American fighters can't see behind him (because of the fuselage). Because of that, we targeted to the rear. But the American planes had armor to protect the pilot but the Zero, to maximize its horsepower didn't add anything like armor. The Zero pilot had to use his ability to see the enemy first, instead of armor. The American airplanes' powerful engines and the machine guns were much better than the Zero. When they received hits, the Zero often exploded or burned - it's quite fragile and easy to burn. But the American planes were very strong and were designed to protect the pilots' lives. The Japanese pilot as well as the aircraft were regarded as "consumables". That was the philosphy - a foolish philosophy. Also, the Japanese Navy placed too much emphasis on the warship. They thought the navies would fight each other by huge war vessels so they didn't place much emphasis on the airplane. The Americans had a much better philosophy -America produced more aircraft and trained more, eventually catching up with the Japanese. It was fighter against fighter in WWI, but in WWII it was group against group. The Japanese were very bad at this, but the Americans used the philosophy of American football - teamwork. Excellent"