Zero Fighter

Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II / the Violent Century: Weapons Book #9

by Martin Caidin, Saburō Sakai (Foreword)

Second Library copy- San Diego Air and Space Museum

Genres: History, Aviation, World War II, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, War

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Martin Caidin was a prolific and controversial writer. Most of his work centered around the adventures of pilots and astronauts. A number of his books were notable for their reasonable, realistic predictions of then-futuristic technology.

Caidin's body of work was prolific and varied, ranging from additional speculative/SF novels such as Marooned, which was made into an acclaimed film and considered a harbinger of the Apollo 13 accident, to a novel based upon the character Indiana Jones. He also wrote many non-fiction books about science, aviation and warfare.

Caidin began writing fiction in 1957. In his career he authored more than 50 fiction and nonfiction books as well as more than 1,000 magazine articles. His best-known novel is Cyborg, which was the basis for "The Six Million Dollar Man" franchise. He also wrote numerous works of military history, especially concerning aviation.

In addition to his writing Caidin was a pilot and active in the restoration and flying of older planes.

Reviews

[Juan Antonio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magnífica breve historia del zero. Sorprende como los japoneses utilizaron al principio de la guerra la ventaja de un avión superior y se comprende así, como pudieron atacar y sorprender tan rápidamente a los aliados occidentales

[Curtiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

A description of Japan's superlative naval fighter, Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighter, whose qualities of range, maneuverability, and fire-power made it arguably the single weapon which enabled the Imperial Japanese Navy to achieve its string of successes during the first year of the war in the Pacific.

[Bill V · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a bad book. I don't believe the specifications and statistics for the various Zero models are completely accurate but at worst they are close to figures I've seen elsewhere. One quality I like about the book is that there are a lot of photographs of the plane and its pilots. The writing style is easy to follow and understand.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caidin has produced a nice group of books that cover the design, development, evolution and utilization of WW2 fighters. This is a nice, concise look at the history of the Japanese Zero from fighter that dominated the skies in the Pacific to obsolescent aircraft used for training and kamikaze purposes.
Sometimes it feels like Caidin gets a little too caught up in the story and he takes some items at face value, but all in all this gives a nice overview of the story of the remarkable Zero.