Yokosuka MXY7-K1 Ohka
As the Americans approached the Japanese home islands, Japan became increasingly desperate for a weapon that could turn the tide, or at least force a tolerable peace. Kamikaze suicide attacks were seen as that weapon, but for the kamikazes to reach their targets, they would have to fly through a wall of American fighters and antiaircraft fire. By 1945, most kamikaze pilots were poorly trained, and their chances of getting through American defenses were low--though many did, killed a great deal of Allied sailors, and sank ships, most never reached their targets. Often, those that did hit did not sink their targets, because they could not carry enough ordnance.
The Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal, along with students at the University of Tokyo and a kamikaze pilot, Ensign Mitsuo Ohta, came up with a design that would hopefully allow even a poorly-trained pilot to reach their target quickly, avoid interception, and do enough damage to sink a ship with one hit. The MXY-7 was powered by three rockets and carried a 2700 pound warhead; the fuselage and wings were made of wood so that they could be produced quickly and cheaply. To reach its target, it would be carried underneath a Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bomber, converted to a mothership: when the bomber was 20 miles from the target, the MXY-7 would be dropped, the pilot would trigger the rockets, and the aircraft would accelerate to almost supersonic speeds before it hit the target.
Because the MXY-7 fell from the mothership like a cherry blossom falls from a tree, it was named the Ohka (Cherry Blossom); cherry blossoms, which mature quickly and die, are also symbolic of samurai. The pilots themselves were nicknamed "Thunder Gods," for the force of the explosions they would cause.
Unfortunately for the Japanese, the Ohka's need for a mothership was its fatal flaw. The G4M was slow and vulnerable to begin with, and easy prey for American fighters. Most G4Ms equipped with Ohkas never reached their dropoff points before they were destroyed; as the MXY-7 pilot was sealed inside the rocket before takeoff, he could not bail out. Though several Ohkas were launched, only a handful reached their targets, and only one ship was confirmed as actually being sunk by a MXY-7. American sailors and airmen derisively referred to the Ohka as the "Baka Bomb"--baka meaning "fool" in Japanese.
The limitations of the Ohka were known to its designers, and work was underway to replace the rockets with longer-ranged jets. There were also plans to land-base MXY-7s in caves on catapults and even on submarines; when the Americans landed in the home islands, the Ohkas would be barrage fired in a single devastating strike. The atomic bombs and Japan's surrender ended these plans. 852 MXY-7s were built, and those that were not expended in kamikaze attacks were captured by the Allies after the war. With limited military use, most were scrapped, but 15 survive to this day.
To train pilots on the MXY-7s somewhat temperamental handling characteristics, Yokosuka built several Model 43K-1 Kai training aircraft. These were two-seat gliders, equipped with water ballast in the nose to compensate for the missing warhead, and equipped with a landing skid and flaps. Two Model 43s are known to survive to present, and this is one of them. It was captured after the war, and modified to represent a standard MXY-7 suicide rocket, but retained the flaps and landing skid. As displayed today, it has been repainted as a training aircraft, with high visibility orange uppersurfaces.
Yokosuka MXY7-K1 Ohka
As the Americans approached the Japanese home islands, Japan became increasingly desperate for a weapon that could turn the tide, or at least force a tolerable peace. Kamikaze suicide attacks were seen as that weapon, but for the kamikazes to reach their targets, they would have to fly through a wall of American fighters and antiaircraft fire. By 1945, most kamikaze pilots were poorly trained, and their chances of getting through American defenses were low--though many did, killed a great deal of Allied sailors, and sank ships, most never reached their targets. Often, those that did hit did not sink their targets, because they could not carry enough ordnance.
The Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal, along with students at the University of Tokyo and a kamikaze pilot, Ensign Mitsuo Ohta, came up with a design that would hopefully allow even a poorly-trained pilot to reach their target quickly, avoid interception, and do enough damage to sink a ship with one hit. The MXY-7 was powered by three rockets and carried a 2700 pound warhead; the fuselage and wings were made of wood so that they could be produced quickly and cheaply. To reach its target, it would be carried underneath a Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bomber, converted to a mothership: when the bomber was 20 miles from the target, the MXY-7 would be dropped, the pilot would trigger the rockets, and the aircraft would accelerate to almost supersonic speeds before it hit the target.
Because the MXY-7 fell from the mothership like a cherry blossom falls from a tree, it was named the Ohka (Cherry Blossom); cherry blossoms, which mature quickly and die, are also symbolic of samurai. The pilots themselves were nicknamed "Thunder Gods," for the force of the explosions they would cause.
Unfortunately for the Japanese, the Ohka's need for a mothership was its fatal flaw. The G4M was slow and vulnerable to begin with, and easy prey for American fighters. Most G4Ms equipped with Ohkas never reached their dropoff points before they were destroyed; as the MXY-7 pilot was sealed inside the rocket before takeoff, he could not bail out. Though several Ohkas were launched, only a handful reached their targets, and only one ship was confirmed as actually being sunk by a MXY-7. American sailors and airmen derisively referred to the Ohka as the "Baka Bomb"--baka meaning "fool" in Japanese.
The limitations of the Ohka were known to its designers, and work was underway to replace the rockets with longer-ranged jets. There were also plans to land-base MXY-7s in caves on catapults and even on submarines; when the Americans landed in the home islands, the Ohkas would be barrage fired in a single devastating strike. The atomic bombs and Japan's surrender ended these plans. 852 MXY-7s were built, and those that were not expended in kamikaze attacks were captured by the Allies after the war. With limited military use, most were scrapped, but 15 survive to this day.
To train pilots on the MXY-7s somewhat temperamental handling characteristics, Yokosuka built several Model 43K-1 Kai training aircraft. These were two-seat gliders, equipped with water ballast in the nose to compensate for the missing warhead, and equipped with a landing skid and flaps. Two Model 43s are known to survive to present, and this is one of them. It was captured after the war, and modified to represent a standard MXY-7 suicide rocket, but retained the flaps and landing skid. As displayed today, it has been repainted as a training aircraft, with high visibility orange uppersurfaces.