When the Mitsubishi A6M Zero entered combat over China in September 1940, it shattered Allied assumptions about Japanese aviation. Designed by Jiro Horikoshi with a radical emphasis on weight reduction—using extra-super duralumin, no armor, no self-sealing tanks, and a massive wing for low-speed maneuverability—the Zero could fly 2,200 km and turn inside any American fighter. On its debut over Chungking, 13 Zeros shot down 27 Soviet-built I-15s and I-16s without loss. But the design philosophy was a devil's bargain: every pound saved was a pound of protection sacrificed. Once American pilots learned to use dive-and-zoom tactics, the Zero's fragility became fatal. By war's end, 10,425 Zeros had been built, more than any other Japanese aircraft. But the machine that had once ruled the Pacific became, in the end, a kamikaze's coffin.