A6M5 'KAMIKAZE'--Japanese plane with pilot figure in cockpit
$399.00
Future Release
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Item Number: JN078
A6M5 'KAMIKAZE'
This well-worn A6M5 is painted in overall dark green on all upper surfaces and fuselage. As the seated pilot gives his farewell salute to his flying comrades and the ground crew, he prepares to taxi his 'Zero' onto the flight line and take off on his one-way mission towards the enemy fleet. Slung underneath the fuselage, on the centre line of his Zero, is a single 500-pound bomb which he will fly together with his aircraft directly into his chosen enemy target.
...TO THE BITTER END
By the autumn of 1944, disaster loomed for Imperial Japan. The war in the Pacific had taken a decidedly negative turn for the Japanese Empire, with the US Navy steadily growing in strength and already poised to strike at the heart of the Home Islands.
In October 1944, American forces had landed on the island of Leyte in the Philippines, and Japan's commanders there concluded that only a dramatic and radical force of action could stem the tide of the American advance... aerial suicide attacks against high-value enemy targets, particularly U.S. Navy aircraft carriers!
By this late stage of the war in the Pacific, many Japanese pilots of both the Army Air Force and the Imperial Japanese Navy already knew that "their days were numbered" both in the air and on the ground. They were outnumbered and outflown by many more numerous enemy pilots and the superior quality of the aircraft they flew.
"Why not", many thousands of Japanese pilots thought, "die a meaningful death crashing your whole aircraft into or onto an enemy warship". This unique form of Japanese self-sacrifice was known as 'Kamikaze' or 'Divine Wind', a reference to a great storm that destroyed an enemy Mongolian fleet off the coast of Japan in 1281.
Now, K&C are introducing two unique all-new versions of the classic Mitsubishi A6M5 'ZERO' fighter. These two 'Zeroes' are typical of the late-war versions of this classic WW2 Japanese fighter aircraft.
APRIL 2026
