was the chief engineer behind many Japanese fighters of WWII. Most notable of such was the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter.

He was born near the city of Fujioka

Fujioka, Gunma

is a city in Gunma, Japan. The city's name means, "Wisteria Hill" in English, and is composed of the two kanji characters for "wisteria" and "Hill" ....

, Gunma Prefecture

Gunma Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the northwest corner of the Kantō region on Honshu island. Its capital is Maebashi.- History :The remains of a Paleolithic man were found at Iwajuku, Gunma Prefecture, in the early 20th century and there is a public museum there.Japan was without horses until...

, Japan.

In 1927, Jiro graduated from the newly established Aviation Laboratory (Kouku Kenkyu Sho) within the Engineering Department of the University of Tokyo

University of Tokyo

, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...

, and started his career in Mitsubishi Internal Combustion Engine Company Limited, which later became Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

, or MHI, is a Japanese company. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi Group.-History:In 1870 Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of Mitsubishi took a lease of Government-owned Nagasaki Shipyard. He named it Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works, and started the shipbuilding business on a full scale...

, Nagoya Aircraft Manufacturing Plant. He first built the successful Mitsubishi A5M

Mitsubishi A5M

The Mitsubishi A5M, Japanese Navy designation was "Type 96 carrier-based fighter" was a Japanese carrier-based fighter aircraft. It was the world's first monoplane shipboard fighter and the direct ancestor of the famous Mitsubishi A6M 'Zero'...

 (allied codename "Claude") before he and his team at Mitsubishi were asked, in 1937, to design Prototype 12 (corresponding to the 12th year of the reign of the then present Emperor). Prototype 12 was completed in July 1940, and it was accepted by the Japanese Imperial Navy. Since 1940 was the Japanese year 2600, the new fighter was named as "Model 00" or "Zero", in Japan also known as the "Rei-sen" (literally meaning "zero fight," shortened for Model zero fighter airplane).

Subsequently, he was involved in many other fighters manufactured by Mitsubishi, including the Mitsubishi J2M

Mitsubishi J2M

The Mitsubishi J2M Raiden was a single-engined land-based fighter aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in World War II. The Allied reporting name was "Jack".-Design and development:...

 Raiden (Thunderbolt) and the Mitsubishi A7M

Mitsubishi A7M

|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Francillon, Ph.D., René J. Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1970 . ISBN 0-370-30251-6....

Reppu (Strong Gale).
His memoir, regarding the development of Zero was published first in Japan in 1970, and it was translated in the 70s, by the University of Washington Press as Eagles of Mitsubishi: the story of the Zero Fighter.