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Cracking the Zero Mystery: How the U.S. Learned to Beat Japan's Vaunted WWII Fighter Plane
by Jim Rearden
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Stackpole Books (1990-03)
ISBN: 081172235X
EAN: 9780811722353
Dewy Decimal #: 940.544952
Paperback: 128 pages
Edition: 1
SKU: 07060439
Condition: Very Good As issued
Comments: Trade Paperback. Very Good condition with no markings. No highlights, underlines or notes in text. No creases to spine or cover. Minor wear to cover. Tight binding and clean crisp text. Very Nice copy.
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Customer Reviews
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Substantial Story About The Zero.
Rating  (4)
Date: 2006-02-28
5 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
"Cracking The Zero Mystery" by Jim Rearden. Sub-titled: "How The U.S. Learned To Beat Japan's Vaunted WWII Fighter Plane" Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1990.
In June 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy feinted towards the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, in an attempt to draw U.S. Navy forces away from the impending battle of Midway. One result of this IJN thrust towards Alaska, was that Flight Petty Officer Tadayoshi Koga crashed his Zero into a muddy bog on Akutan Island, some twenty five miles East of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Because the Zero was crashed in Alaska, Jim Rearden became interested in writing its story. The back cover of the book notes that, after the War, Mr. Rearden "...moved to Alaska to teach wildlife management at the University of Alaska". His devotion to things Alaskan is evident in his book chapters dealing with the crashed Zero in Alaska. In fact, in my humble opinion, those chapters are most interesting in this small book, only 128 pages, (including the index).
The author, Jim Rearden, has done a lot of research into the pilot of the Zero, Petty Officer Tadayoshi Koga, using Japanese sources who were happy to help. The author also tracked down the Americans who were involved in the discovery of the crashed Zero, July 1942, and its subsequent recovery, and, if these people were still alive, obtained their personal remembrances about the events. Finally, to cap it all off, using "...three Navy photos of the downed plane"...(p. 110), Rearden was able to locate the actual crash site and the then empty grave of Petty Officer Koga. This was a rather poignant chapter of the book. The least interesting chapter (even though I am a retired engineer), was the Appendix which compared Koga's Zero with contemporary U.S. Fighter planes. This appendix read too much like an engineering report.
Mr. Rearden saw fit to add chapters dealing with the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, the importance of the Battle of Midway and the impact of the Zero on the war in then Pacific. I felt that they these chapters were somewhat unnecessary for a book of this type. So, five stars for the excellent research, four stars for the good writing, and three stars for the superfluous history. Average is four stars.
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