NoaIzumiAnime Classroom: Ohka
May 26th 2009 01:54
Anime, educational? Sure!
Everyone has heard about the kamikaze pilots from World War II. Most kamikaze aircraft were pre-existing planes, ranging from fighters to bombers to trainers, but before the end of the war, a few aircraft were manufactured for the express purpose of suicide attacks. The first of these was the Ohka (the Japanese term for “cherry blossom”).
The Ohka was basically a piloted anti-ship missile. It had a rocket motor, stubby wooden wings, and over a ton of high explosive in the nose. Pilots were given rudimentary training, including an unpowered flight in a disarmed Ohka, before being sent on a mission. The Ohka could fly at over 600 mph, near supersonic speed and much faster than any American fighter plane.
Ohkas have had only a few depictions in anime. The most well-known is in the short film The Cockpit, an anthology of World War II stories. One of these stories is of an Ohka pilot who attacks an aircraft carrier on August 6, 1945. In the anime Gate Keepers, the commander of AEGIS was an Ohka pilot who miraculously survived his mission and decided to devote his second chance at life to defending Japan from the Invaders.
The Ohka’s great weakness was its short range. Once launched, it was almost unstoppable, but it had to be carried to within 50 miles of its target, or it would run out of fuel. As shown in both Gate Keepers and The Cockpit, the carrier planes were twin-engined bombers, which were slow-moving, and vulnerable to American fighters. In the very first Ohka attack, on March 21, 1945, sixteen bombers were sent out to attack the American fleet. US Navy Hellcats quickly intercepted them, shooting all of them down before any of the Ohkas could be launched. An improved version of the Ohka was later built, with a longer-ranged turbojet engine, but it never saw combat.
Contrary to the events of The Cockpit, no aircraft carriers were hit by Ohkas, although the first successful Ohka attack in history hit the battleship West Virginia off Okinawa. In fact, the Ohkas were most often used against the picket destroyers that the US Navy positioned ahead of the fleet to warn them of attacks. All told, they were responsible for damaging or sinking seven American ships, at a cost of over sixty Ohkas and their pilots.
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An Ohka underneath its mothership, from The Cockpit
Everyone has heard about the kamikaze pilots from World War II. Most kamikaze aircraft were pre-existing planes, ranging from fighters to bombers to trainers, but before the end of the war, a few aircraft were manufactured for the express purpose of suicide attacks. The first of these was the Ohka (the Japanese term for “cherry blossom”).
The Ohka was basically a piloted anti-ship missile. It had a rocket motor, stubby wooden wings, and over a ton of high explosive in the nose. Pilots were given rudimentary training, including an unpowered flight in a disarmed Ohka, before being sent on a mission. The Ohka could fly at over 600 mph, near supersonic speed and much faster than any American fighter plane.
Ohkas have had only a few depictions in anime. The most well-known is in the short film The Cockpit, an anthology of World War II stories. One of these stories is of an Ohka pilot who attacks an aircraft carrier on August 6, 1945. In the anime Gate Keepers, the commander of AEGIS was an Ohka pilot who miraculously survived his mission and decided to devote his second chance at life to defending Japan from the Invaders.
The Ohka’s great weakness was its short range. Once launched, it was almost unstoppable, but it had to be carried to within 50 miles of its target, or it would run out of fuel. As shown in both Gate Keepers and The Cockpit, the carrier planes were twin-engined bombers, which were slow-moving, and vulnerable to American fighters. In the very first Ohka attack, on March 21, 1945, sixteen bombers were sent out to attack the American fleet. US Navy Hellcats quickly intercepted them, shooting all of them down before any of the Ohkas could be launched. An improved version of the Ohka was later built, with a longer-ranged turbojet engine, but it never saw combat.
A surviving example, at the Museum of Science and Technolgy in Manchester
Contrary to the events of The Cockpit, no aircraft carriers were hit by Ohkas, although the first successful Ohka attack in history hit the battleship West Virginia off Okinawa. In fact, the Ohkas were most often used against the picket destroyers that the US Navy positioned ahead of the fleet to warn them of attacks. All told, they were responsible for damaging or sinking seven American ships, at a cost of over sixty Ohkas and their pilots.
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