[texanyankee]

This early in the Pacific theatre, did the Japs already have Kamikaze attacks?

I notice the caption under the large photo, that they labeled the shot down plane as attempting a “suicide dive.”

[PzLdr]

As a policy/strategy/tactic? No. But as early as the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese flyer, his aircraft damaged, chose to crash his plane into a building. So the basic premise is there.

[fso301]

This early in the Pacific theatre, did the Japs already have Kamikaze attacks?

A common belief among pilots attacking shipping was that if you were shot up, medical help may be hours away but you are likely to bleed out in minutes. You are going to die so, you may as well go out with a bang by crashing into the ship you were attacking.

During the Battle of Midway, marine aviator capt. Richard E. Fleming (posthumus MOH) was widely believed to have crashed his SB2U Vindicator into the Japanese cruiser Mikuma although other reports have him crashing into the sea.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

On board Hornet the crews of the Doolittle mission discussed what they would do if their plane was disabled and wasn't going to make it to China. Doolittle told them the decision belonged to each pilot. His own plan in that eventuality was to bail out the rest of the crew and then find the best available target and dive into it. (This anecdote may be part of an excerpt from The Doolittle Raid in the near future but I can't say for sure.)