Kamikaze Pilots Forced? General George Kenney's Memoirs

[Trav02]

Hello Gentlemen,
Long-time lurker here...I'd like to pick the brains of the guys with a solid knowledge of the theater.
I was reading this memoir, available for download here.
https://media.defense.gov/2010/May/...0QFnoECAcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2gex9OslLxHJbYIwDIJaDJ
Kenney's memoirs are excellent &insightful. One paragraph that caught my eye though, was his mentioning of a couple reports that stated some kamikaze pilots may not have been entirely voluntary.

Now, with that being said, I have not been able to find any mention elsewhere of such a thing. With the example of the captured pilot, presumably he had the arming wires pulled before takeoff so the vanes would unwind and arm the bombs when he started moving. If he could jump though, he evidently wasn't chained to or locked in the aircraft.

What do you guys think? Could it have happened, or faulty wartime intelligence?

This can be a sensitive topic, I know-I don't intend any disrespect.
I think Military History Visualized has a video going over attrition that was also pretty informative.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QqwDvxLVZII

Possibly more effective with aircrew untrained or poorly trained in conventional bomb/torpedo attacks.
There is the obvious human cost to consider, though.

Appreciate any thoughts you may have, let me know if I need to adjust my approach....

 

[Shinpachi]

Officer: We have no other choice to win but you are not forced. Yes(〇) or No(X). Think it well.

Pilot: I have no choice but to mark "〇" under this situation after all.

On the other day.

Pilot: I marked 〇 but I was not ordered to fly. Why?

Officer: Reason was simple - you were one of the best pilots.

Pilot: Where did those who marked X go?

Officer: They were ordered to fly as kamikaze soon


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhaaFUUuVYA

 

[GrauGeist]

At the end of his career, Nishizawa volunteered for a Kamikaze mission, but his request was denied.

 

[Trav02]

Thanks, guys - IIRC Saburo Sakai talks about these missions for a few pages, as well. Just thought it was an interesting bit of info I couldn't corroborate.

 

[GrauGeist]

In most cases, the more experienced pilots flew escort for the Kamikaze pilots, who were, for the most part, inexperienced volunteers.

 

[GTX]

This book covers this subject as well:

 

[OldGeezer]

As you say, he couldn't have been shackled to the rudder pedals if he was free to jump from his damaged airplane. Probably just one of the myths that got passed around at the time. If anybody had really wanted to trap pilots in cockpits, they wouldn't have to scrounge up manacles; they'd just have to bang a hammer on the canopy rail so it was jammed shut.

 

[SaparotRob]

It seems a bad idea to just write off pilots that way. What if no targets were found? Toss those scarce pilots and planes for nothing?

 

[MiTasol]

I think the manacles part of the story was pure invention because on most single seat military aircraft there is no way that someone would be able to get in and lock the manacles to the rudder pedal/bar.
The only exceptions would be aircraft like the American AT-6 series where you can remove side skins for access and that is no two minute job.
Threatening to kill the pilot if he did not put the manacles on himself would not be a great incentive as he is going to die regardless.

 

[special ed]

In high school, discussing our parent's war service, a friend (also an aviation nut) told of his father's time in the Cavalry. Yes, the real Cavalry. There were two units left in the US Army with mules used for transport in bad or rough country. My friend's dad's unit was in what is now South Korea, when they were attacked by Japanese aircraft. They dived into the long line of mules transporting supplies and the G.I.s took souvenirs. My friend said his dad had some sort of a large brass lock which locked the canopy from the outside. His father would not speak of the war and would not comment about his souvenir. I had never heard of Japanese pilots being forced into Kamikaze flights and so, considered my friend's story, just a story.

 

[Shinpachi]

Sounds like a story of a parallel world.
No American troops in Korea during the Pacific War.....

 

[MiTasol]

AND copper was a very scarce resource in Japan in ww2 to the point that they even melted down historic shrine gates to create the alloys for aircraft engines.

Copper is one of the two ingredients of brass. If Japan had had enough copper to waste on padlocks they would never have needed to destroy the shrine gates.

 

[GrauGeist]

The padlock could have belonged to the pilot and was stowed among personal effects in the baggage compartment.

 

[Barrett]

Hello Gentlemen,
Long-time lurker here...I'd like to pick the brains of the guys with a solid knowledge of the theater.
I was reading this memoir, available for download here.
https://media.defense.gov/2010/May/...0QFnoECAcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2gex9OslLxHJbYIwDIJaDJ
Kenney's memoirs are excellent &insightful. One paragraph that caught my eye though, was his mentioning of a couple reports that stated some kamikaze pilots may not have been entirely voluntary.
View attachment 751271
View attachment 751272View attachment 751273
Now, with that being said, I have not been able to find any mention elsewhere of such a thing. With the example of the captured pilot, presumably he had the arming wires pulled before takeoff so the vanes would unwind and arm the bombs when he started moving. If he could jump though, he evidently wasn't chained to or locked in the aircraft.

What do you guys think? Could it have happened, or faulty wartime intelligence?

This can be a sensitive topic, I know-I don't intend any disrespect.
I think Military History Visualized has a video going over attrition that was also pretty informative.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QqwDvxLVZII

Possibly more effective with aircrew untrained or poorly trained in conventional bomb/torpedo attacks.
There is the obvious human cost to consider, though.

Appreciate any thoughts you may have, let me know if I need to adjust my approach....

I cannot recall the title, but a UK book about kamikazes related a story:
Unwilling suicider took off, strafed his command post, and disappeared out to sea.
I like to think it's true.

 

[tyrodtom]

Just think about flying a aircraft with a armed bomb hundreds of miles in rough weather, then having to fly though all that well known flak at the last.
I just don't think so.
Just another one of those latrine rumors that made it into print.

 

[GrauGeist]

Here's a good read on the subject:

Japan’s real kamikaze pilots: survivors debunk stereotype in stories of sacrifice

www.thenationalnews.com

 

[tyrodtom]

When I was in Japan in 66-67 I met a ex-Kamikaze at a bar in Kokura.
He had a picture of a younger version of himself and 2 other friends, all in pilot's equipment, I think he was legit.
We were both slightly under the influence, and I didn't ask a lot of questions, I didn't feel that I had the right to seeing as where I was.
Less than a 100 miles from the where both atomic bombs were dropped, and worked at the very place that was the intended primary target for the second bomb. Yamada Camp, part of Kokura arsenal in WW2.
I knew my WW2 history even then.
Most of what I remember is that he said the war ended before his training was finished. Another couple weeks and he would have been ready.
I was surprised that he seemed to hold no hatred or bitterness toward me, or my country that I could detect.
I wished I would have talked with him more than I did, his English was much better than my Japanese, but I didn't feel comfortable asking many probing questions.

 

[Shinpachi]

I remember Pappy Boynton's later years reminded me of how kamikaze survivors lived in the postwar

* A common factor I felt was PTSD.

 

[AerialTorpedoDude69]

I worked with an elderly man at a restaurant in the late nineties who claimed to have been conscripted into a Shinyo squad (suicide speed boats) as a teenager. He said that he was forced because they did not like that his attitude. (He was disagreeable and outspoken.) I believe it was common to bully and coerce teenagers into suicide squads but it was not doctrine.

Regarding the story, there's a lot that doesn't add up. Were Jacks being used as Kamikazes?

 

[frankv]

I have a book, not with me ATM, called IIRC "Kamikaze Pilot". In it the author describes his path to becoming a Kamikaze pilot. It was such an honour to give his life for his emperor that he could not refuse, even though didn't want to do it. But the social pressure was so great he couldn't refuse. So I doubt stories of pilots manacled to the controls or similar. I think that the Ocha canopy didn't open, but conventional aircraft used as Kamikaze weren't modified.

A couple more points... during training as a regular pilot, there were regular practices diving at the control tower so that if their aircraft couldn't make it back to base, their death wouldn't be wasted.

And what was going through the minds of US torpedo bomber pilots who took off after Midway and all 12 aircraft from one squadron were lost with only 1 survivor?