The Japanese A6M2 "Zero" was perhaps one of the most capable fighter aircraft in the Pacific Theater, and while some Allied aircraft and tactics allow pilots to reach a parity to contest the Zero, there was an effort to understand the aircraft in order to devise better countermeasures to destroy them. This moment came in July 1942 when the Americans discovered a crashed, but intact A6M2 in Alaska during Japanese operations in the area in June. The recovered A6M2, which would become known as the "Akutan Zero", was sent back to the United States mainland, repainted and repaired, then began to be tested to find weaknesses that the Allies can exploit. The Akutan Zero would continue to serve with the USA until a training accident in February 1945 caused a SB2C Helldiver to crash into the Zero.

The A6M2 (USA), present since the start of the Open Beta Test prior to Update 1.27, is identical performance-wise to the A6M2 in the Japanese tech tree. The main differences are cosmetic, with a similar color scheme to other American naval fighters. The A6M2's fame in manoeuvrability can be utilized to dance around opponents while getting a good aiming solution to destroy the target. Unlike the usual American aircraft with a large reserve of heavy machine gun rounds, A6M2 players must express good trigger discipline as there are only 120 rounds of 20 mm cannon ammo to use, or only 60 rounds per gun. The different capabilities the A6M2 introduces can allow players to experience a whole new type of gameplay while staying in the American tech tree.