Description: - Plane: Nakajima A6M3 (Zero) Type 22 - Pilot: Hiroyoshi Nishizawa (aka "Devil of Rabaul"), Naval Air Pilot 1/c, IJNAF - Began flying: Last week of January, 1942 - Quote: "Refuel my plane and load my guns..." Features: - Colors are sampled directly from the Mitsubishi/Nakajima factory finishes catalogs, 1939-1945 - Plane features polished aluminum prop and blades with red cap - Metallic blue wheel wells and wheel frames/braces - Vented MG's - Prop blur is correct for the propeller stripes - Identification plate added to fusalage - LOD and Wreckage .dds files included Changes: - This plane is not modeled in the game (Nishizawa flew an Nakajima A6M3 Type 22, and the game model is an Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21), but I felt I had to skin this with the fighter of one of the greatest fighter pilots to ever live... - Original flight number on the tail was UI-105...had to change it due to the mirror effect. - Identification plate should only be on the left-hand side of the plane...again, the mirror effect. - The propellers would have had a black, anti-glare finish applied to the back, but this was impossible with the game model Hiroyoshi Nishizawa remains Japan's "Naval Ace of Aces". Known as the "Devil of Rabaul", he has been credited with well over 100 aerial victories by some sources and would then qualify as Japan's all-time "Ace of Aces". Formed part of the Tainan Ku's world famous "Ace Trio" along with Toshio Ohta and Saburo Sakai. He destroyed six Grumman F4F Wildcats over Guadalcanal on November 2, 1942. With the 203rd Ku, Nishizawa's flight of four Zeros escorted five other bomb-laden Zeros in the IJNAF's first official suicidal "Kamikaze" attack, destroying two of 20 intercepting Grumman F6F Hellcats on the mission of October 25, 1944. The very next day of October 26th, Nishizawa was killed while flying as a passenger on a Nakajima Ki.49 Donryu "Helen" Army Bomber transport aircraft that was shot down by intercepting Hellcats of VF-14 from the USS WASP. Nishizawa was given the posthumous rank of lieutenant junior grade, and the name "Bukai-in Kohan Giko Kyoshi", meaning, "In the ocean of the military, reflective of all distinguished pilots, an honored Buddhist person." Saburo Sakai wrote of Nishizawa, "To all who flew with him, he became 'the Devil'....Never have I seen a man with a fighter plane do what Nishizawa would do with his Zero. His aerobatics were all at once breathtaking, brilliant, totally unpredictable, impossible, and heart-stirring to witness. He also had the hunter's eye, capable of spotting enemy aircraft before his comrades knew there was anything else in the sky". His plane was seen in almost all the major Pacific Theater battles, and will go well with any map. His plane is commonly depicted as being battle-scarred (with many flakes of paint missing), but I went for a newer look...I hope you like it :) Installation: - If you are not using the Merciless Creations Texture Pack, you will have to extract your texture.rfa file and manually include the .dds files in this release. If you are using MC, simply copy these .dds files to the Map folder you wish to use this plane in. takiwa