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Yokosuka MXY7-K1 Ohka (Cherry Blossom)

1945 SECRET WEAPONS OF THE IJA/IJN WORLD WAR 2

History

The Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka (translated as "Sakura") is a single-seat, pilot-led, suicide fighter jet proposed and produced by the desperate Empire of Japan for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) to thwart its creepy attempts . Allied forces in the Pacific continue to advance and hopefully lead to a favorable negotiation to end the war. By 1944, the Japanese military and government authorities agreed that the war could not be won outright and that something needed to be done to prevent Allied victory at the expense of the Empire.

The Empire has begun to use various types of IJN aircraft to carry out well-known suicide bombings - at the expense of supplies and skilled pilots - to attack Allied ships in the Pacific with their sometimes deadly "Kamikazes".

As a result, the Japanese High Command was quick to review other kamikaze methods of warfare and accepted a manned rocket-powered "flying bomb" designed by 2nd Lieutenant Mitsuo Ota of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The design was sent to the Yokosuka Research Institute at the University of Tokyo for evaluation.

After dissecting the sketch of the aircraft provided by Ota, engineers at the First Naval Aviation Technical Bureau concluded that it had merit and developed an official blueprint named "MXY7". The first 10 prototypes failed in trials, while the "11" prototype powered by 3 x Type 4 Mark 1 Model 20 engines proved successful.

The system is designed to be launched from a Mitsubishi G4M series bomber "mother ship", and the suicide pilot will travel with the bomber crew to a prearranged location. The Ohka pilot then sat in the small vehicle in the bomb bay and was confined outside. Once freed from the bomber, he uses rocket power and gravity to steer the vehicle towards the target to ensure top speed. The pilot would of course die along with his plane. The end result, as hoped, was a profound psychological impact on U.S. seafarers.

However, the actual end result leaves a lot to be desired. Like most suicide wars, Project Ohka never became a viable deterrent to Allied operations in the Pacific, nor did it even slow the conquest of the Japanese mainland.

The production only lasted a few months and included more than 855 copies in total.

The MXY7 is a tiny design concept using wood on an aluminum frame to save weight and reduce the need for war-critical materials. Powered by three Type 4 Mark 1 Type 20 solid rocket booster systems for a combined thrust of 1,764 pounds. The limited flight time made the mothership a necessary part of the Ohka program.

As such, it is not uncommon for motherships to release suicide planes prematurely out of fear of their own aircraft's safety being attacked by aggressive and accurate Allied fighter jets and air defenses. With the pilot stuck in the car with nowhere to go, this had little effect on pilot Ohka's aborting the mission. Once inside his "flying coffin," the pilot has little to think about other than the mission itself.

The mostly sleek and unremarkable airframe carries a 2,646-pound warhead in the nose for lethal destruction. The simplified wing structure and T-tail provide the pilot with basic control.

On March 21, 1945, the first mission was launched by Ohka, but proved a failure when the G4M Betty was intercepted by American fighter jets. The Ohkas in hand were triggered too far from the target and fell harmlessly into the sea.

The battleship USS West Virginia was attacked again, and the cover of three ships was hit with the USS West Virginia, albeit with minimal damage.

On April 12, 1945, the destroyer USS Mannert L. Abele was hit by a Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" kamikaze at Radar Post 14 near Okinawa. The resulting damage broke both of her shafts, and she now finds herself on fire, dead in the water.

Five minutes later, three G4M Beatty bombers were spotted approaching the ship at 20,000 feet. Unbeknownst to Abele's crew, the G4M carried the new single-seat manned flight bomb in its open bomb bay.

Three Bettys approached crippled destroyers, and an Ohka fell from 20,000 feet, starting to operate as an unpowered glider weapon, then picking up speed as Ohka reached the crest. A minute after impact, the pilot used a third missile and was heading towards Abel's starboard at about 500 mph. The crew aboard the Abele saw the object and remembered that it looked gooey like a flying torpedo.

Abel's cannon opened fire. Due to damage from previous operations, her 5" mount was unable to move and fire against the approaching threat. While the 20mm and 40mm guns were firing, the Ohka pilot steered his aircraft with a simple large reticle mounted in front of the canopy - at these speeds, a small aiming error could cause the aircraft to miss the target entirely. The Ohka hit the middle of the destroyer and blew up the ship.

In less than three minutes, the Abel sank, taking seventy-nine American sailors with it. Of course, the pilots of Ohka saw the same fate.

In practice, Ohka did not deliver the expected psychological or logistical results as planned. The system was in production until March 1945, and although several Allied ships were hit directly by Ohkas, the weapon system never posed an overwhelming threat to the fleet. This isn't entirely surprising, considering that even a single U.S.

Navy ship can hold a significant amount of defensive and offensive firepower. If anything, the mothership used to transport the Ohkas proved to be more of a target for the Allies, and the Ohkas were only as deadly as their other kamikaze brethren when accurate.

Overall, the entire record of the Ohka program is considered a failure, with only one ship sunk, two damaged beyond repair, and three more damaged - a total of seven ships were damaged at the end of the war. Seven other variants were built and tested, and they could be launched from caves or submarines or towed bombers rather than attached to them.

However, only the Type 11 saw serious combat action. The U.S. Navy named the suicide plane "Baka" - the Japanese word for a fool - in apparent disagreement with the Japanese who view suicide as part of war and honor.