Mitsubishi A6M Zero VS Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate

[von thoma]

Why did Zero is more famous and very considerate, if really the Nakajima Ki-84 was a better airplane ?
What is the myth around the Zero japanese fighter ?

Thanks for your inputs.

[Takao]

Why did Zero is more famous and very considerate, if really the Nakajima Ki-84 was a better airplane ?
What is the myth around the Zero japanese fighter ?

Thanks for your inputs.

Simply put, the Ki-84 Hayate(Frank) was late-to-the-party. The Ki-84 only began appearing in limited numbers over China in March,1944. By that time, the Zero Myth was already well entrenched in Allied mentality.

The Zero myth was that the plane was capable of amazing feats of performance(which it was), and able to take on all comers land- or ship-based and defeat them with ease(which, at first, was true). However, the Zeros early victories can be attributed to the skill of their pilots and the ignorance of their early land-based opponents. Things changed with the first carrier vs carrier battles against the US Navy. The Zero could be killed, but it was not a task to be taken lightly - the kill to loss ratio for the F4F and A6M bear this out, as they were almost even. Still woe to the US pilot who tries to dogfight with a Zero. The Navy and Marine pilots developed tactics that played to their strong suits and made use of the Zero's weaknesses(the Koga /Akutan Zero played a big part in the development of these tactics to be tought to new fighter pilots.