Category:Japanese Air War

From Eurêka

Japanese Air War

Bombing America I Only time an enemy aircraft has bombed the US mainland was when Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita was launched from a submarine off Cape Blanco, OR, with 2 firebombs to start a forest fire near Brookings, Oregon, 9 September 1942.

Bombing mission II Nobuo Fujita repeated an identical mission 29 September 1942.

Note None of the bombs of either mission did what had been planned.

1. Balloon bombs Japan released thousands of balloons carrying bombs across the Pacific to the Western US where they did set some fires in Oregon, the only fatalities were a group of people on a church outing in Oregon and perhaps a woman in Montana.

Note Headline Asahi newspaper, evening edition 17 September 1942, “Incendiary Bomb Dropped on Oregon State. First Air Raid on Mainland America. Big Shock to Americans.”

Suicide Missions

Tokko (Jpn) Special attack missions by the Japanese Naval Air Force, whose operatives were not expected to return.

Special Attack Corps Unit set up for the suicide missions whose special attack squads were posted to the Philippines, Okinawa, Formosa and Kyushu in Japan.

1. Ginga squad Flying unit of the Special Attack Corps, named after a plane, the three-man Yokosuka P1Y1 Ginga.
   1. Frances Code name for Yokosuka P1Y1 Ginga by the Allies.

Tokka (Jpn) Code name for a Japanese piloted-bomb project.

Kikka (Jpn) Code name for a Japanese piloted-bomb project.

Kamikaze (Jpn, = Divine Wind) Tactic of suicidal dive-bombing attack on enemy warships, first employed by pilots of the Special Attack Corps in the Philippines campaign during 1944.

1. Tokkatai (Jpn) Suicide pilots of the Japanese Army Air Force who volunteered to fly an aircraft into a target.
2. Hachimaki (Jpn, = headscarf) Tradition dating back to the samurai in which a headscarf was fastened around a pilot’s forehead by his comrade to give him strength.

TEN Designation for Japanese plan for the air defense of the Japanese home islands, devised initially by the Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo as a means of co-ordinating the air forces of the Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy under the army’s 1st Air Army, January 1945.

1. Ten-go (Jpn) Code name for a massive coordinated air-naval suicidal attack to check further American advance against the mainland including 1,400 kamikaze missions, April-June 1945.
2. Ten-Ichi Code name for Japanese surface attack in April 1945 by a naval force against the US forces in Okinawa. It was intercepted by US aircraft and the Japanese ships were destroyed (including the Yamato, the biggest warship ever built) or dispersed.

Oka bomb (Jpn, = cherry blossom) (Marudai; MXY-7) Japanese manned-missile airplane, carried underneath a Betty medium bomber, equipped with 1200 pounds of high explosive, propelled by three solid rocket motors. It was guided to its target by a suicide pilot. It achieved some success as an anti-ship weapon, but presented an easy target. First used in the Pacific on 12 April 1945.

1. Jinrai Butai (Jpn, = divine thunderbolt) Suicide pilot of a Oka bomb.
2. Baka bomb Term used by the Americans for an Oka bomb, meaning foolish.

Delousing (US Navy) Weeding out Kamikaze aircraft which had sneaked into American air formations returning from missions in order to attack US aircraft carriers. The term was derived from separating sheep from the goats.

1. Sheep Dogs US Navy combat air patrol aircraft which flew over picket destroyers, Tom Cats, in order to weed out and destroy Kamikaze aircraft.

TAN Code name of Japanese Kamikaze raid on the US naval base and anchorage in Ulithi atoll in the western Caroline Islands by 24 converted twin-engined naval bombers from Kyushu, 11 March 1945. The only significant damage was caused to the carrier Randolph.

Kikusui (Jpn, = Floating Chrysanthemum) Code name for mass kamikaze attacks.

1. Kikusui-1 (Jpn, = floating chrysanthemum 1) Code name for the ultimate kamikaze mission of sending the battleship Yamato on a suicidal mission with only enough fuel for a one way passage, the idea being to beach the vessel on the Okinawa beachhead and fire until the ammunition was exhausted.

Floating Chrysanthemum (FC) mass kamikaze raids

1st F.C.	6-7 April 1945
2nd F.C.	12-13 April 1945
3rd F.C.	15-16 April 1945
4th F.C.	27-28 April 1945
5th F.C.	3-4 May 1945
6th F.C.	10-11 May 1945
7th F.C.	23-25 May 1945
8th F.C.	27-29 May 1945
9th F.C.	3-7 June 945
10th F.C.	21-22 June 1945