The Mitsubishi Ki-15 Karigane airplane, the real "Kamikaze (神風号, Kamikaze-gō)"

[No one]

Dear Gentlemen,

 

There was a plane named "Kamikaze 神風". But it had nothing to do with Special Attack Unit, or suicide bomber.

 

It was a Mitsubishi Ki-15, which flew from Tokyo to London in 1937, a flight sponsored by (the newspaper) Asahi Shimbun.

 

Kamikaze (1937 aircraft) - Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

[Bruce Pennington]

Really cool, thanks for posting.  

 

The topic has come up a couple times, recently, so I'll post this here, though it probably should go in the Books discussion thread.

 

"The Divine Wind", by Captain Rikihei Inoguchi and Commander Tadashi Nakajima, Bantam War Book, 1958.

 

Inoguchi and Nakajima were instrumental in making the Special Attach Units happen.

 

A couple of fascinating statements at the beginning of the book:

 

"On the eve of war there was a fear in Japan that revolution was imminent.  Admiral Yamamoto maintained that while civil war would not be fatal to the nation, an external war that had no chance of success would spell disaster.  Accordingly, he was vigorously opposed to the idea of going to war.  At the same time he said that as a result of the domestic situation, the evolution toward war was inevitable. .... " Vice Admiral Shigeru Fukudome

 

"...in an Imperial conference on September 6, 1941...a way was left open on the chance that satisfactory diplomatic arrangements could be achieved without recourse to military means.  Even if we could not win a military victory, it was incumbent upon us to resort to arms in order to remain loyal to the Japanese spirit, which had to be preserved at all costs.

  After the agenda had been approved, Admiral Nagano, representing the high command, commented on this point: "It is agreed that if we do not fight now, our nation will perish.  But it may well perish even if we do fight.  It must be understood that national ruin without resistance would be ignominy."

 

They did a good job telling the story of how they found themselves clearly losing, yet so passionate about their cause that they would resort to this last ditch effort.  People often recoil at the Kamikaze, or Special Attack Force, concept and find it hard to comprehend, but it's not really that hard once you learn more about the people involved and the predicament they found themselves in.

 

And honestly, it's not that hard to understand for a warrior.  My wife, to this day, doesn't understand those of us who feel called to join the armed forces (even police force), because to her, there is nothing more important than self preservation.  Yet even for her, if her child (or favorite dog) is in danger, she would throw caution to the wind and rush protect them, not even thinking of her own safety.  The authors discuss this a bit, and mention how most people and/or soldiers are willing to risk their lives, but deep down believe they have a chance to survive.  The Kamikaze shocks the senses because the observer knows that person is making this effort knowing there is no way out.  But to the pilots of the time, they realized that for Japan, there was no way out.  The massive, overwhelming forces of the US in the Pacific made that clear.  It was amazing to read how, when briefed on the idea at first, 100% of the pilots volunteered, and those who were turned away, for whatever reason, were truly hurt.  But even this was really the strongest in the front line forces.  The military back home, in their relative safety, weren't as easily convinced.  It was seen, too, in the new pilot trainees, after all the veterans were lost.  The new guys had more skittishness, until they spent some time out on the front.

 

This reminds me of the book written by Japan's top ace, Saburo Sakai, "Samurai!".  He was unwilling to fly a Kamikaze mission.  Possibly this is because of his skill and success.  In his mind, there is always the chance of surviving to fight another day.

Edited September 19 by Bruce Pennington

[TracA]

Bruce,

 

Great information. Thanks for posting. I have read Sakai's book a long, long time ago. I should dust it off and read it again.

 

All the best,

 

Tracy

[No one]

Dear Gentlemen,

 

There is two other books by former "tokkō":

 

- "Memoirs of a Kamikaze" by Kazuo Odachi (Japanese title 《ゼロ戦特攻隊から刑事へ /From the Zero Fighter Special Attack Unit to Detective》).

 

Kazuo Odachi - The Log Book Project

 

- "J'étais un kamikaze" by Ryuji Nagatsuka. What is interesting is that this book was published in French (translated in English of course "I was a Kamikaze).

 

長塚隆二 - Wikipedia

 

長塚隆二先生追悼文En hommage à Monsieur Ryuji Nagatsuka       - 西尾治子 のブログ Blog Haruko Nishio：ジョルジュ・サンド George Sand (goo.ne.jp)

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

No one