The government was hoping to harness the country's world-renowned technical expertise and create a successor to the famous World War Two-era Zero ... its plans for a domestically produced fighter ...
A restored World War II-era Mitsubishi A6M Type 22 Zero fighter in 2017. (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images) Shortly before 8 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese aerial forces swarmed across Oahu ...