Rufe.

This is coolbert:

Here with the Rufe. Allied "reporting name" for the Japanese fighter float plane of the World War Two [WW2] era.

As built by the Nakajima company and based upon the original design of the Mitsubishi ZERO. A ZERO fighter plane slightly redesigned with the additions of the center pontoon and the two outriggers.

The ZERO in many ways superior to other allied fighter planes of the earliest period of the war in the Pacific, the Rufe having in spite of modifications a performance somewhat reduced but not exceedingly so.

"The large float and wing pontoons of the A6M2-N degraded its performance by about 20%, enough that the Rufe was not usually a match for even the first generation of Allied fighters."

"The Nakajima A6M2-N (Navy Type 2 Interceptor/Fighter-Bomber) is a single-crew float seaplane based on the Mitsubishi A6M Zero Model 11. The Allied reporting name for the aircraft was Rufe."

"The A6M2-N floatplane was developed from the Mitsubishi A6M Zero Type 0, for the purpose of supporting amphibian operations and defending remote bases."

"The aircraft was used for interceptor, fighter-bomber, and short reconnaissance support for amphibious landings, among other uses."

I have often wondered why naval aviation did not take more kindly to the seaplane in general and the option of having available combat float planes! It seems that there is advantage to having ANY body of available water that can be used as an "air field"! Is this not so? Perhaps servicing, refueling and rearming these float planes is not so easy at it might seem. Even if the planes have a "base" for takeoff and landing, they still need the normal everyday maintenance as a conventional warplane with undercarriage requiring a normal land-based landing strip?

During those various campaigns in the Pacific theatre during WW2, the capture of an island with landing strip was of paramount importance. AND if no airfield already existed, construction battalions [CB's] in very quick order built a base with air strip where previously there was only pristine jungle!

Both in the European and Pacific theatres, air power was critical to victory. Those island hopping landing operations in the Pacific in particular always placed emphasis on forward air bases, captured or otherwise!

coolbert.