The main antagonist of the Mitsubishi A5M during the Second Sino-Japanese War, was the Curtiss Hawk III that was in service with the Chinese Nationalist Air Force, but the A5M was better in almost every aspect, in spite of its weak armament.
The A5M proved to be quite effective and damage-tolerant with an excellent maneouvrability a sturdy construction and provided an excellent escort for the Mitsubishi G3M bombers, which composed the backbone of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service's bomber force.
The Mitsubishi A5M2a was an improved variant that was produced by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagoya from June-December 1937. Only a total of 36 of them were manufactured and they were powered by a single Mitsubishi Kotobuki KAI 3b radial engine which delivered a power of 602hp for take-off and 681hp at 3250m high (10663ft) and drove a three-bladed propeller. It was armed with two forward-firing 7,7mm (0.303in) Type 89 machine guns placed in the nose with 500 rounds each. It could also carry a small bomb load as it had a total payload of 60Kg (132lb).
It operated together with the enclosed-cockpit variant A5M2b (which will be covered in a future post) and was gradually replaced by the much better variant and, by mid-1939, there wasn't any A5M2 in active service with the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_A5M
2. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/28829
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
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