This is a list of Imperial Navy Air aces flying the Mitsubishi Zero fighter during the Pacific War

Pacific War

The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...

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• Hiroyoshi Nishizawa
  Hiroyoshi Nishizawa
  Lieutenant Junior Grade was an ace of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during World War II.It is possible that Nishizawa was the most successful Japanese fighter ace of the war; he personally claimed to have had 87 aerial victories at the time of his death...
  
  : 87 (other sources mentioned 120 to 150 kills)
• Tetsuzo Iwamoto
  Tetsuzo Iwamoto
  Sub-Lieutenant Tetsuzō Iwamoto was one of the top scoring fighter aces of the Empire of Japan, during World War II. His total of confirmed claims is believed to be about 80....
  
  : 94 (including 14 in China / personal diary accounts for a total of 202 kills)
• Shoichi Sugita: 70 (some sources say 80)
• Saburo Sakai
  Saburo Sakai
  Sub-Lieutenant was a Japanese naval aviator and flying ace of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Sakai was the Imperial Navy's fourth-ranking ace and Japan's second leading fighter pilot to survive the war ....
  
  : 64 (2 in China)
• Takeo Okamura: 54 (4 in China)
• Toshio Ohta
  Toshio Ohta
  was a World War II Japanese fighter ace. In early 1942, at the age of 22, he flew a Mitsubishi A6M Zero with the Lae based Tainan Air Group. There the young petty officer 1st class became one of the so-called 'clean up trio' of Japanese aces, along with his squadron mates Saburo Sakai and Hiroyoshi...
  
  : 34
• Kazuo Sugino: 32
• Junichi Sasai
  Junichi Sasai
  Lieutenant Commander was a Japanese naval aviator and fighter ace of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Lieutenant Sasai was killed leading his fighter squadron during an attack of Henderson Field during the Battle of Guadalcanal....
  
  : 27
• Sito Origami: 10 (9 in China, 1 disputed)
• Toshiyuki Sueda: 9
• Kunio Iwashita:

Other Navy Aces

Air Aces in A6M-2N Rufe floatplane fighter:

• Master Sergeant Kawai: 4
• Master Sergeant Maruyama: 4

Air Aces in metropolitan defense (over Japan):

• Captain-Petty Officer Tanimizu: 8 (in an A6M5c
  A6M Zero
  The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a long-range fighter aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was designated as the , and also designated as the Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen and Mitsubishi Navy 12-shi Carrier Fighter. The A6M was usually referred to by the...
  
   fighter)
• Ensign
  Ensign
  An ensign is a national flag when used at sea, in vexillology, or a distinguishing token, emblem, or badge, such as a symbol of office in heraldry...
  
   Kaneyoshi Muto: 4 (with Kawanishi N1K2-J Shiden-Kai
  Kawanishi N1K-J
  The Kawanishi N1K Kyōfū was an Imperial Japanese Navy floatplane fighter. The Kawanishi N1K-J Shiden was an Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service land-based version of the N1K...
  
   "George 21", he fought against 12 F6F Hellcat
  F6F Hellcat
  The Grumman F6F Hellcat was a carrier-based fighter aircraft developed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat in United States Navy service. Although the F6F resembled the Wildcat, it was a completely new design powered by a 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800. Some tagged it as the "Wildcat's big...
  
  s, shot down four of them and forced the remaining eight to retreat)

Air aces over Chinese (1940)

The unit for operative evaluations was the Yokosuka air corps, but it transferred its responsibility to 12th Rengo Kokutai under the command of Captain Kiichiro Hasegawa when this group was sent to China. Commanders and pilots of the unit:

• Operative Commanders
  • Tamotsu Yokoyama
  • Saburo Shindo
  • Ayao Shirane: 1(final total 11)

• Petty officers
  • Koshiro Yamashita: 5 (final total 10)
  • Saburo Kitabatake: 2 (final total 10)
  • Kihei Fujiwara: 4
  • Yoshio Ohki: 4
  • Masayuki Mitsumasa: 2
  • Tsutomu Iwai: 3 (final total 11)
  • Toraichi Takatsuka: 3
  • Kazuki Mikami: 2
  • Masaharu Miramoto: 1
  • Toshiyuki Sueda: 1 (final total 10)
  • Hatsuyama Yamaya: 2

This group suffered the loss of Eichi Kimura and Kichiro Kobayashi from enemy anti-aircraft fire. This unit remained under the command of Admiral Shigetarō Shimada

Shigetaro Shimada

was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. He also served as Navy Minister-Biography:A native of Tokyo, Shimada graduated from the 32nd class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1904...

 when he led the China Air Area Fleet in the Chinese campaign.
Famous air units=
The unit (Kokutai—"air group") with most air aces, was Tainan Air Group

Tainan Air Group

was a fighter aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The flying portion of the unit was heavily involved in many of the major campaigns and battles of the first year of the war...

 (in Formosa), the most famous group. They operated from Rabaul

Rabaul

Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...

, New Britain

New Britain

New Britain, or Niu Briten, is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel...

 and acquired their legendary fame over Taihoku (The Philippines), the Dutch East Indies

Dutch East Indies

The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....

, Lae

Lae

Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...

 and Buna

Buna, Papua New Guinea

Buna is a village in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea. It was the site in part, of the Battle of Buna-Gona during World War II, when it constituted a variety of native huts and a handful of houses with a airstrip...

 (New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

) and, in the last stages of war, in defense of mainland Japan. Saburo Sakai

Saburo Sakai

Sub-Lieutenant was a Japanese naval aviator and flying ace of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Sakai was the Imperial Navy's fourth-ranking ace and Japan's second leading fighter pilot to survive the war ....

 was another member in this unit after Dutch Indies operations, from the Denpasar

Denpasar

Denpasar is the capital city of the province of Bali, Indonesia. It has a rapidly expanding population of 788,445 in 2010, up from 533,252 in the previous decade. It is located at .-History:...

 base on Bali

Bali

Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...

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Others famous units with air aces were 3rd Air Corps (including Yoshiro Hashiguchi), 253rd Air Corps (with Tetsuzo Iwamoto and Hiroyoshi Nishizawa

Hiroyoshi Nishizawa

Lieutenant Junior Grade was an ace of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during World War II.It is possible that Nishizawa was the most successful Japanese fighter ace of the war; he personally claimed to have had 87 aerial victories at the time of his death...

 among its members), Genzan Air Group

Genzan Air Group

was an aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Pacific campaign of World War II.-History:...

, and other groups.

The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service

The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service was the air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, the organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War.It was controlled by the Navy Staff of the Imperial Japanese Navy and...

, similar to the German Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....

 idea of organizing an "all aces" select unit Jagdverband 44 equipped with Messerschmitt Me 262A-1a

Messerschmitt Me 262

The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems prevented the aircraft from attaining operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944...

 jet fighters, decided to create an all-ace unit (the 343 Kokutai) with Kawanishi N1K-2J

Kawanishi N1K-J

The Kawanishi N1K Kyōfū was an Imperial Japanese Navy floatplane fighter. The Kawanishi N1K-J Shiden was an Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service land-based version of the N1K...

 fighters towards the end of the conflict; this was commanded by Minoru Genda

Minoru Genda

was a well-known Japanese military aviator and politician. He is best known for planning the Pearl Harbor attack.- Early life :Minoru Genda was the second son of a farmer from Hiroshima. Two brothers were graduates of Tokyo University, another brother graduated from Chiba Medical College, and his...

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