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The Eagles of Mitsubishi
By Jiro Horikoshi
Rating: 8/10
Having just watched the Studio Ghibli film “The Wind Rises”, I decided to embrace my historical curiosity and read the source material for the movie. This came in the form of a few books, one of which was the memoirs of Jiro Horikoshi. Horikoshi had been the lead engineer and designer for Mitsubishi during the 1930s and 40s and over saw many of the company’s most iconic aircraft. Most notably and key to the Ghibli movie was his memoir about the design process of the A6M Zero, titled ‘The Eagles of Mitsubishi.
The book opens with Horikoshi giving a brief overview of his background and rise to prominence in the aircraft industry with the design and implementation of the A5M fighter. The book uses this to lay the groundwork for what would be his undertaking the A6M project. The A5M had proved to be an incredible fighter with capabilities that far out classed those used by the Chinese air force during the ongoing Sino Japanese War.
The A5M prototype designed by Jiro Horikoshi, 1934
Following this success, the navy approached Horikoshi and laid out requirements to be included in the next fighter. Horikoshi examined the requirements and initially deemed them to be impossible, as each contradicted another feature. The navy wanted a fast plane that was light and manoeuvrable whilst also carrying multiple heavy weapons, extra fuel tanks and radio equipment. In the end Horikoshi took on the project and over came the difficulties by eliminating as much weight as humanly possible.
A6M first flying prototype “Unit-1” under construction at Mitsubishi’s prototype plant. Nagoya, 1940
Following months of design and testing, resulting in the deaths of 2 Japanese test pilots, the result was unveiled. The A6M fighter turned out to be an even better fighter than its predecessor and at the time of its release in 1940 was arguable the best overall fighter in the world with the only exception potentially being the Spitfire, which outperformed the A6M in a dog fight. However, despite this the A6M had the longest range and an incredible speed and dive capabilities.
The remainder of the book is Horikoshi analysis of the A6M’s war time performance and Japan’s war situation, ultimately leading to the downfall of both. Horikoshi concludes that due to Japan’s inability to maintain a logistical advantage, it became simply impossible to continue to develop the fighter. This is evident when one views the design of the A7M Raiden which never made it into production due to the intense bombing of Japanese facilities and an earthquake that struck the Mitsubishi Tokai factory in the 1944. Ultimately, whilst the allies were able to develop new fighters that were far superior to the A6M, Japan was simply unable to keep up and lost air superiority.
Crashed Zero, New Georgia 1943
Final thoughts:
Overall, the book is incredibly detailed and well written. Horikoshi maintains a solid narrative that keeps the reader engaged and interested. At times the technical jargon can be a little hard to understand and I was required to google more than a few terminologies. But there is plenty of drama to follow.
Unlike the Ghibli movie, this book focusses entirely on Horikoshi professional life, and does not touch upon his family. In the movie this area is actually totally fictional and the real Horikoshi’s family survived the war.
If you are interested in a detailed, relatively unbiased dive into the development and life of the A6M Zero, this is by far the best place to go. I highly recommend this book to any history buff. Unfortunately, the book is now considered quite rare, and obtaining a copy may proof difficult.
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