Jirō Horikoshi's work links the experimental Mitsubishi 1MF10, the A5M, the A6M Zero, the J2M Raiden, and the A7M Reppū. This was a continuing design career in which one aircraft supplied experience for the next. The A5M converted earlier experiments into a successful service fighter and gave the Zero team a proven baseline. Within that lineage, the Type 96 is a major design waypoint between the biplane era and the A6M.
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Jiro Horikoshi's fighter lineage from A5M to A7M
The A5M sits inside Jiro Horikoshi's longer sequence of experimental and operational Mitsubishi fighter designs.