Japan's Kamikaze Rocket of WW2 

I always get some complaints when I use anime. If it's not your thing don't worry about it. I use a lot of mixed sources for my videos and try to include something for everyone. Exposing new stuff to people is half the objective of the channel. The Japanese LOVE to story tell with animation and it can be a bit nutty but also real quality too.

The military commanders instructed the pilots on the Ohka, saying, "One Ohka can sink a battleship or a large aircraft carrier. If that happens, Japan and its people will be saved from an invasion by the United States." Many kamikaze pilots thought that by dying they would be able to live in peace with their families.

Fun fact: The hangers where they stored the Cherry blossoms can still be seen and visited at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa

Japanese pilot: "Sir do we have a computer to guide this anti-ship rocket bomb thing?" Japanese commander: "Yes, but you are the computer."

The one fast crashing kamikaze in Battlestations Pacific

thanks for using clips from the Sonic Boom Squadron episode of The Cockpit. it's one of my favorite episodes and thought it was completely forgotten. i loved watching it in mixed dubs where the japanese spoke their language with engsubs, and the allied troops spoke english. the soundtrack is badass and i loved the dogfights! the main character was a rocket engineer who dreamt of building a rocket to the moon, but had to do this instead~

i was fortunate enough to see a restored Ohka at my local aviation museum in Palam, New Delhi. That particular Ohka was taken as war booty by 4th Squadron RIAF in 1946 during the allied occupation of Japan.

My dad a ww2 Okinawa marine vet told me he saw some of these at the airfields abandoned. He felt bad for all the sailors being killed by the kamikaze.

People often atribute Japans use of kamikazes as byproduct of it's culture, but there is also some cold logic in this maddnes. By later stages of the war, US fleets had enough AA defences that atacking it was practicaly a suicide anyway. If most (if not all) planes lunched in attack will be lost anyway, Kamikazes are just one "logical" step forward, throwing away any already non-existing chance of return in hopes for maximazing chance to do (any) damage.

Ironically, its lightning fast speeds was also its weakness. In 1945 nobody knew the effects of transsonic and supersonic speed effects on control surfaces, except maybe NACA. Controlling the damn thing must’ve been really hard, and they only have a few seconds to adjust their target before impact. Worse, there is at least one case where the Ohka went through the hull of a cruiser without the warhead detonating, sparing it from certain destruction. Think about that for a second. A human-guided, anti-ship missile ripped through layers of steel so fast the warhead wasn’t triggered.

No problem with using "The Cockpit" for something like this. Leiji Matsumoto's father (the manga artist who created the story) was a Japanese (Air) Naval officer during the war. The one detail that "Thunder gods" gets right is the distress of the surviving pilot. It is very awkward to show up alive after you've said all your good byes, the stress on pilots who didn't find a target or got grounded on mission day or otherwise was immense.

Germans be like "Dude, our unmanned flying bombs are better than yours!"

Every time I think of the Oka I always hear in my mind the meme that goes “ Ay bro watch your jet, watch your jets bro WATCH YOUR JET!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The "sub launched" variant was a truely scary concept, the only flaw being the sub would have to surface. an I-400 could carry 3 of them, and was expected to surface 20 km away from a task group, there it would still be out of radar detection range. Its hanger doors would open and an ohka with 2 additional boosters would move onto the catapult. it would be launched with the help of the boosters, then it could kick on its rocket motors staying low over the water.. launching all 3 at once would be risky and then the sub would crash dive... but at the same time this tactic could be used not just against ships but against harbors, land targets, etc.

Ohkas are basically the grandfather of anti-ship missiles. It's a bomb with human acting as the guidance system. Meanwhile the Germans made the first guided bombs which is the Fitz X. If you think about it, the Axis power might be up to something here.

The use of anime as an example is better than showing an old clip but does not represent the topic of the video. They can also show more emotions and other stuff that are probably not portrayed well in other sources. Finally, not all events were filmed or captured. Kamikaze attacks using planes were common and there are a lot of videos in the internet yet this rocket, although documented by the Allies, only a few were filmed. I might be biased but this channel uses 2 of my favorite types of shows, war picture/documentary and anime. Have a great New Year everyone!

United States: “Dude, our pigeon guided bombs have better hit percentages.” 🕊️. (this was in fact true. Skinner’s experiments using trained pigeons to peck at television images of enemy ships, linked to a guidance mechanism had high success rates. if not for the US Navy not taking it seriously, the US might have started naval battles with a wave of pigeon guided bombs…)😮

The Yokosuka MXY-7 was not originally intended to be a kamikaze weapon. It was originally intended to be a weapon like the Henschel HS-293. However, the infrared seeker head part of the project stalled and they quickly redesigned the Ohka to be piloted suicide weapon instead.

The cockpit was one of the best anime.

"We have guided missile at home"

I was young when I first heard of Oka, didn't think it was a real thing but old newsreels were shown at my school during history lessons and later I saw one at the Imperial War Museum, it was quite something, obviously a one way trip so it often made me think, what was going through the pilots mind? Thank you Johnny, another trip down memory lane.

Ouka's technology was later adopted for the Shinkansen. Engineers no longer want their technology to be used in warfare.

You should cover the Kyushu J7w Shinden. It is a very rare plane that had a tremendous appearance in the new Godzilla Minus 1

Ohka is develop to Tomahawk missile now. pilot is changed to CPU tips.

My local air museum (Chino, California Planes of Fame) has a static Ohka aircraft for display and it is stupidly small. Very eerie that people were brainwashed to enter one of those planes back in the war.

Another great video, always amazed how you dig up such great material. The US training film was a peach 👍

Will you do a video on the German task force who did something similar to this and the kamikaze, the Sonderkommando Elbe?

Well done. I've had trouble finding anything in detail on the Ohka. Thanx for the links.

I've seen an example of the Ohka up close when I visited the USAF Museum near Dayton. It's pretty unique as it is a "training" version with an inert dummy rocket motor, weighted nose cone, and a landing skid for safe recovery.

Baka in Japanese: stupid Baka in Filipino: cow 🐄

The USS Stanly actually survived two Ohka attacks. One from the warhead over penetrating the hull so it exploded outside. Two by kill the pilot which made the bomb go up and miss the ship.

German: *ok we've given you a jet engine as per your request, what're your plans for it?* Japanese: *we're basically going to take your experimental engine and strap a big ass bomb on the front and ram the aircraft into a ship* German: *verdammt, Kenji.*

You’re killin’ it, Johnny!

That baka footage is gonna be one of the few and probably only times Johnny will show anime without the english dubs

The idea somewhat similar to the German Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg (piloted V-1 flying bomb) except the German pilot have to bail out quickly before impact.

My wifes Grandfather was suppose to be a cherry blossom pilot yet was spared because a suprise bombing run of their airfield during the pre start of the battle of Okinawa blew up the storehouse where the fuel was hidden it was suppose to be under ground but nearby shell blewup pierce the wall hot lit the oil instead ending up in a plane he became a artilary scout for the landing of the US troops he was captured after being knock out by a debry from the explotions from the ships cannons he somehow survive by being thrown into a fox by the shell blast and woke up in a american prison in a bed handcuff with a concusion from the blow he survive the war and returned to Nara after a year 1946 since he was taken to prison and was process

I remember using one of these in the Battlefield 1942 mod Forgotten Hope years ago, since I was playing with bots only I had to fly the bomber close enough to the ships myself and then quickly enter the Ohka through a very janky bomber interior.

Suicide submarines, suicide air planes, and now suicide rockets. Not to mention Seppuku. If there is one thing the Japanese have always loved it's killing themselves. Seems like a rather strange evolutionary strategy. To each their own though.

Japanese pilot: OH NO I DON'T HAVE AMMO! The Emperor: "MY SON I NEVER SENT ANYTHING BUT YOU AS AMMO!"

When you become the ammo

That few seconds of 'baka' made me chuckle.

I feel like you watched every military anime in existence.

Johnny I can’t take it seriously when you suddenly put in a baka montage lol

I always wanted to see a Ohka before. I still plan to find places that have the Ohka Bomb today still surviving.

Germany: develop radio controlled guided bombs Japan: WE DONT NEED THAT

Ah, "The Cockpit", classic. BTW, there is some fuzzyness about the provenience of "Baka", either it's a simple shift from Ohka (and let's face it, "baka" is a well known Japanese word), OR it was because the first (ground) intact specimens were found April 1 1945 (April Fool's Day). You left out another likely Anime link, the idea for a rocket plane was suggested by a Lieutenant Ohta (ironically, a wash-out at pilot training). I've seen photos and Officer Ohta of Patlabor is likely an intentional likeness (this isn't as big a stretch as it seems, Ohta is the one die hard/crazy cop on the team and the two commanders are named after admirals Gotoh and Nagumo). Ironically Ohta survived the war. The Air Force Museum at Dayton has a training model, usually parked under the P-61 across from "Boch's Car". They also have the only example of the jet-powered model (never saw service). While (Cockpit aside) no carrier was ever hit by an Ohka, they did contribute to the destruction of Unryuu. Unryuu was ferrying 30 of them to the Philippines and they were likely at the center of the explosions resulting from Redfish's second attack that effectively blew the bow off (less than 10% of the crew survived). Shinano was also carrying them when sunk, but they apparently didn't "cook off".

I think its a really good thing that you mentioned they were brave but brainwashed. They werent all just crazed individuals. Like somebody else said, adding onto their general purpose brainwashing of Hirohito being a deity, they were told that their sacrifice would make such a big impact on the war that giving their life essentially saves countless others on the mainland. Horrific time to be around in general.

I believe the first ship to be hit by a Kamikaze was the cruiser HMAS Australia in 1944.

There is an Ohka on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton Ohio in their WWII section There is a picture of it on there website

The American approach to guided bombs: "Put a bird in it!" The German approach to guided bombs: "Put a radio in it!" The Japanese approach to guided bombs:

IV read in a book that it have aerodynamic problems at high speed. In the dive the target moved in the upper part of the cross hairs with the commands frozen.

I'd like a mini doc about Canada's greatest punk band, Propagandi.

I can understand when people say they don’t like anime, i don’t like it,but you can’t find any movies or anything like that,that use such interesting thing

Great video, battle stations pacific is a fantastic game 👍

My step-dad told my stories of his grandpa who fought in The Pacific Theater of WW2. Cannot remember what his job was be he was in the Navy. Until the day he died he had a deep hatred for Japanese

3:30 battlestations Pacific, had so much fun with that game brings the memories

Best scene of the video is the anime "Baka" compilation LOL

The original, "Rocket Man". What a tragedy!

The navy yard museum in DC has one on display. But I've wondered in the anime The Cockpit you showed clips from, the plane breaks the sound barrier. I wonder if the plane could have broken the sound barrier. (If you tried to do that with it, vs by chance as seen in the show.)

I'm very happy you showed some gameplay from battlestations Pacific showing the ohka

Buck Danny thumbnail - a man of culture, I see.

Sup dude been late for awhile now I’m only 17 seconds good vid my boi and I have you had a good chrissie and a better new year

I saw the cockpit on VHS when i was younger and last year i watch again i am proud on my nation the nation of Japan i cried a lot with that anime Much love stay healthy!

Would you ever do an overview of the lunge mine?

There is archival footage of a Betty being shot down with an oka slung under her belly. I've seen it several times.

I thought it said kamikaze reacts and I kind of thought that was a bit impossible

Saw a full scale replica at Australian War museum Canberra

In a documentary on National Geopgraphic titled: "Nazi Megastructures" , attention was also paid to this device.

Nice video! I have a series suggestion: ships of war

You call it brainwash. I call it love for the Fatherland.

Thank you for this video! Thank you for commenting on what the US personnel called it (BAKA) for stupid. I oft think of the line in Go For Broke, when the Nissei say BakaTadi

Merry belated Christmas, and I hope you will have an exceptional new year. Take care, and all the best.

The Ohka was a sign of desperation and that Japan would lose the war. Sinking escort and transport ships, though tragic for those who died on them, was never going to make any difference to the war as the US had the capacity to replace them so very quickly. At Okinawa one Ohka succeeded in had a near miss on one of battleship West Virginia's 16 inch turrets which caused moderate damage. And the US quickly adapted to this threat and extending their "defensive rings" outward to intercept the G4M/Ohka combination aircraft before the suicide mission could be launched. In fact postwar analysis concluded that the Ohka's impact was negligible, since no U.S. Navy capital ships had been hit during the attacks because of the effective defensive tactics that were employed. It is interesting that if the 1946 invasion of Japan had gone ahead there was a proposal to have a vanguard made up of all the US and British capital ships with the heaviest AAA fit to blunt any Kamakahi attacks before the invasion fleet arrived.

The anime Scenes you Put in these are AMAZING dude. What anime is it? I Never Heard of it nor Saw it I think.

After first learning about this suicide rocket thanks to the History Channel show Dogfights, I firmly agree with the Allies decision to give this weapon the name "Baka". The entire battle plan barely achieved ANY results compared to other standard Kamikaze attacks, so the whole concept really was honestly BEYOND idiotic.

This is my first visit to your channel, and I have to say, your use of Anime was inspired. It often happens on some RU-vid channels where original footage and photographs are very limited, and we end up with either repeated, or off-subject material used as fill. Here, the story is told vividly in both words and visuals. Great job. Subscribed. Btw, does anyone know why the apparent tradition of Anime characters having such European features?

I have read about this thing in WW2 books.

First time I learned of the Ohka was in that same anime film.

Okha, the Tomahawk at home before tomahawk exist.

These are so OP in battlestations pacific

people commenting on anime just ur typical trolls, dont mind em. Im not a fan of anime but i feel like sometimes the scenes you picked out gives a more clearer understanding of the topic.

You call a weapon a cherry blossom and expect people to be afraid of it!

Love the anima! Nice work!

1:10 was that footage from battle 360 or dog fights pacific? Classic history channel shows, you’re a man of culture as well I see 😏

I think there is still one of these hanging from the ceiling in a museum at the Washington navy yard in D.C.

I like the Baka Anime part lol

Ah the G4M flying lighter

Imagine if the NASA X-15 had been built for this mission talk about hypersonic kaboom

Baka:being Mention The entire anime community:

7 total ships damaged/sunk is pretty much 0 when you look at the unbelieveable number of ships being deployed. It's, in a way, relieving to see that all these various suicide tactics were not effective. It would have been horrible had they turned out to be a highly valuable doctrine.

Quite the last-ditch weapon. Folks flying these baka bombs had to have been highly dedicated and true believers in their nation's cause.

Japanese pilot to American: "Anta baka?" *violently exploded*

もう戦死して反論も事訳も出来ない英霊に対して、切り抜いた動画で馬鹿馬鹿って… 情けない子供だな…☹️

Great anime👏🏻👏🏻

When the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano was sunk Nov. 29, 1944 she had 50 Ohka aboard being transported to Okinawa and the Philippines. See Wikipedia

In our Axis&Allies house rules the Ohka is available to Japan if they have enough R&D and the Home Islands are threatened.

Saw one for the first time back in 1996.....parked t a little air museum on the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

1:10 Allen M Sumner class!? I have never heard of this boat and it has the same first name and my last initial!

Those Pilots were effective in defence of their Nation and way of life, For wrong or right I have to respect them.

Gods, how I miss watching History Channel's Dogfights and the video game Battlestations: Pacific just by seeing these otherwise horrid yet interesting craft. Edit: Shocking to see Toradora! here. Love that show, though I'm spoiled by its brilliant English dub (though that's probably because Taiga and Minorin there reminded me of Kyubey/Madoka from Madoka Magica and Ritsu/Azusa from K-On! respectively, among other things). Same with Neon Genesis Evangelion (though I'm more into ADV dub Asuka, what with her German sayings being nailed by Tiffany Grant) and A Silent Voice (darn, that movie really makes you feel bad yet also relieved every time you watch it).