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To: 50sDad

Kamikaze attack at Midway? Sounds a bit early.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze

The attacks began in October 1944, at a time when the war was looking increasingly bleak for the Japanese. They had lost several important battles, many of their best pilots had been killed, their aircraft were becoming outdated, and they had lost command of the air.


113 posted on 08/01/2021 7:15:47 PM PDT by Kevmo (Right now there are 600 political prisoners in Washington, DC.)
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To: Kevmo; 50sDad

Before the formation of kamikaze units, pilots had made deliberate crashes as a last resort when their planes had suffered severe damage and they did not want to risk being captured, or wanted to do as much damage to the enemy as possible, since they were crashing anyway.

One example of this may have occurred on 7 December 1941 during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

First Lieutenant Fusata Iida’s plane had taken a hit and had started leaking fuel when he apparently used it to make a suicide attack on Naval Air Station Kaneohe.

Before taking off, he had told his men that if his plane were to become badly damaged he would crash it into a “worthy enemy target”.

Another possible example occurred at the Battle of Midway when a damaged American bomber flew at the Akagi’s bridge but missed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze#History


114 posted on 08/01/2021 7:49:54 PM PDT by Repeal The 17th (Get out of the matrix and get a real life.)
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To: Kevmo
Kamikaze attack at Midway? Sounds a bit early.

All I have is oral history from my now dead father. You mileage may vary.

125 posted on 08/03/2021 3:29:27 AM PDT by 50sDad (A Liberal prevents me from telling you anything here)
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