The San Diego Aerospace Museum




World War II








Spitfire! Zero! Hellcat!

Sleek aerial fighters that create exciting images of the great World War II dogfights in the skies over England, Europe, and the far reaches of the Pacific Ocean. Scores of fighters attempting, by skillful maneuver, to destroy their adversaries. Fighter planes, like these in the Museum's collection, saw extensive service during combat operations in the European and Pacific theaters during World War II.

The Supermarine Spitfire, designed and built in Great Britain, was one of the Royal Air Force's mainline fighter aircraft. It served throughout the war and was particularly effective during the Battle of Britain defending against the continuous onslaught of Germany's Luftwaffe.

The Museum's Spitfire is one of only a very few which remain in existence from the 23,000 manufactured between 1936 and 1945. It attained a speed of 416 mph, had a range of 439 miles, could climb to 43,000 feet, and was powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin 266 engine.
A Japanese Zero and a Navy F6F.
A Curtiss P-40 of Flying Tiger fame.
A Navy mechanic works on an aircraft engine.

Best known as the Zero, the Japanese Zero-Sen A6M fighter was a formidable opponent for the allied fighters which flew in combat against it. Built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the Zero was flown by the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy from the late 1930s to the conclusion of World War II. Records indicate that the Museum's Zero was constructed between May and August, 1945. It was assigned to the Yokosuka Air Group south of Tokyo. At the end of hostilities it was shipped to the United States for flight evaluation, and for many years the airplane languished in storage at several locations before being transferred to the Museum in 1981 on loan from the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Restoration of the Zero was accomplished by San Diego Aerospace Museum volunteers. The task required three years and over twelve thousand work hours to complete. The Zero is displayed as part of the Museum's Navy Carrier Exhibit, a stunning addition to the Museum which also features a Navy F6F Hellcat fighter as it might have appeared on the flight deck of an Essex class carrier in 1943.

One of 12,225 F6F fighters built, the Museum's Hellcat was delivered to the Navy in April 1944. This particular plane saw no combat and had only 831 hours of flight time during its career. It was retired from service in 1957. Hellcats were considered slightly less maneuverable than the Zero, their principal combat opponent, but were generally superior in other important aspects of flight. During World War II, Hellcats were credited with downing 5,156 of the 6,477 Japanese planes destroyed by U.S. Navy pilots.

Even before World War II ended, jet aircraft were making their appearance, and soon thereafter these fast, sleek masters of the sky ushered in the Jet Age.

A famous Spitfire and the men who flew it.



Next: The Jet Age



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