PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Kamikaze bombings is a tactic used by the Japanese Air Force during WW2.
The first kamikaze attacks took place in October of 1944 in the Leyte Gulf invasions when a Japanese pilot flew his plane into the flight deck of the St. Lo, killing 30 crew members.
After the sinking of St. Lo, the Special Attack Force program grew rapidly over the next few months.
Rear Admiral Masafumi Arima is sometimes credited with the invention of kamikaze bombings.
Commander Asaiki Tamai and 23 other talented student pilots were the first squadron of the "Special Attack Force".
When Japan began to be bombed by B-29s, the Japanese military attempted to use suicide attacks against this threat.
In order to counteract these bombings, the Japanese Air Force tried sending kamikaze pilots to ram the B-29s, but this tactic required incredibly talented pilots and the Japanese Air Force encouraged pilots to eject before impact, but the B-29 was equipped with exceptional defense weaponry and the pilots would mistime they're ejection and be would killed anyway.
By the end of the war, Japan had sacrificed 2525 pilots just in1945 alone. This sheer amount of pilots caused much more damage towards the ships and had caused many more deaths. about 2,800 Kamikaze attackers sunk 34 Navy ships, damaged 368 others, killed 4,900 sailors, and wounded over 4,800. Despite radar detection and cuing, airborne interception, and massive anti-aircraft barrages, 14 percent of Kamikazes survived to score a hit on a ship; nearly 8.5 percent of all ships hit by Kamikazes sank.
In early 1945 U.S. Navy aviator Commander John Thach, known for developing effective tactics against the Japanese, developed a defensive strategy against kamikazes called the "big blue blanket".
The US ships would use their radars to find the positioning of the Japanese fighters, and would have a U.S. fighter shoot them down before the planes could reach the ships.
The Japanese had started to make planes specifically for kamikaze attacks, such as this rocket powered plane.
Allied pilots were experienced and better-trained, and flew superior aircraft, making the poorly trained kamikaze pilots easy targets.
In the months between April and June in 1945, kamikaze attacks reached their peaks. 1465 planes were sent to attack ships. These planes destroyed 30 US ships
U.S. Ships seemed to suffer more damage because of their wooden flight decks, compared to British ships, with reinforced steel flight decks. U.S. ships also took more casualties in kamikaze strikes, such as in one strike, 389 men were killed,greater than the combined number of fatalities suffered on all six Royal Navy armoured carriers from all forms of attack during the entire war.
