After crashing in the jungle in Brazil in April, Harmon was credited in August 1943 (erroneously according to later accounts) with shooting down a Japanese Zero in an air battle after a bombing raid on a dock area and shipping in Hong Kong.
Since 1940 was the Japanese year 2600, the new fighter was named as "Model 00" or "Zero" or A6M Zero, in Japan also known as the "Rei-sen" (literally meaning "zero fight," shortened for Model zero fighter airplane).
Sasaki's :ja:ベルリン飛行指令 Berlin hikō shimei (English title: Zero Over Berlin) garnered critical acclaim for telling a World War II story from the other side about a fly-by-night mission involving a Type Zero Fighter (Mitsubishi A6M Zero) secretly making its way from Japan all the way to Berlin at the request of the Luftwaffe.
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A "fighter sweep" of 17 Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero fighters swept over Henderson Field just after mid-day but failed to engage any U.S. aircraft.
After detecting a build-up of aircraft, on 1 April 1943 a fighter sweep of 58 Mitsubishi A6M3 Zeros of the 204th, 251st and 582st Kokutai was met by Allied fighters over the Russell Islands intercepting the Japanese en route to Tulagi and Guadalcanal, that claimed 18 Zeros at the cost of six Allied aircraft.
A group of approximately ten Mitsubishi A6M 'Zeke', Nakajima Ki-44 'Tojo' and Ki-43 'Oscar' single seat fighters, and Nakajima B5N 'Kate' three seat torpedo bombers began their attack on the Task Unit shortly after 09:10, as the LSTs were positioning for their landings.