Stryder50
Platinum Member
KI-27 was known by Allied code name "Nate". A nimble fighter, but short ranged and with fixed landing gear had other limitations. It was the first fighter that the AVG/Flying Tigers encountered in the early months of their operation.The dot like the star on the US birds. The Dot was a zero so that was what it was nicknamed early on.
And it wasn't the only capable fighter. The Kate KI-27 was just as good. The Zero A6M was Navy while the Kate was Army. Both were construct very similar.
N1K2-J First introduce late 1942. Had this been introduced earlier, the Carrier Wars would have been a disaster for the US. This thing smoked both the F6F and the F4U and even would fight the P-51 toe to toe and win in an attrition fight. It got the bullet proofed glass, armor around the pilot, self sealing tanks and more. And a top speed of over 400 mph. Had they been introduced just months before.........
Nakajima Ki-27 - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
The "Kate" was the Japanese Naval, carrier based torpedo bomber they started the war with.
Nakajima B5N - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
FYI, in World War Two, Pacific Theater (PTO) the Allies applied male(boy) names to Japanese fighters and female(girl) names to Japanese bombers and transports, etc.
Also, FWIW, the AVG/Flying Tigers used "zero" as a generic for all Japanese fighters they encountered. Of course when later debriefed after the mission they tried to be more specific on type(s) encountered.