Japan's Last Hope? Nakajima's Ki-115
2022 ж. 11 Қар.
149 671 Рет қаралды
Born of desperation, Nakajima's Ki-115 was an attempt to try something different. The plane was a bad idea both in concept and in excecution, but ironically started to set them on the right course, but it was way too late.
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"The Japanese Army Air Force and Navy didn't get along so well," is possibly the greatest understatement ever made about the war in the Pacific.
Was there ever an instance where a nation’s Army and Navy got along?😉
I'm curious how many casualties the mutual neglect each branch caused for each other. I'm sure it's in the hundreds of thousands
The US Navy was probably only the IJNs second biggest enemy.
Yeah I mean they assassinated each other. My friends and I make a point of it playing Japan in War Thunder, if we're flying an assortment of IJN and IJA we try to kill each other in the middle of a competitive match 🤣🤣
I mean they had a few minor very civilized discussions about disagreements on occasion... But certainly nothing notewor... Oh nevemind it was the exact opposite 🤣🤦♂️
About Nakajima becoming Subaru. I used to work at the Battleship New Jersey (BB62) and during WW2 she shot down a few Nakajima bombers and the like. Low and behold one of our sponsors was Subaru as they had a local office. Always liked the irony there.
It's also funny how the Rivalry between the Japanese Air force and Navy lived on in that way too, Mitsubishi vs Subaru.
We were military allies 1854-1933 and have been again since 1953, with a 20 year hiatus when the US elected a communist government.
@@KawasakiKitehSure it was. Nothing whatsoever to do with Japans invasion of China.... an act condemned by most nations of the world along with the USA... (I suppose all those other nations were "communist" too?
@@KawasakiKiteh fdr really wanted to help out his cousins in britian. What a way to galvanize the isolationist us than have someone fuck with our boats
@@KawasakiKiteh There have been 2 more Commie Governments elected in the US since F. Roosevelt; Obama and his puppet Biden.
That dig at Subaru gave me a good chuckle!
10:23 I suppose after that many sorties, the superiors began to suspect he was not taking that kamikaze thing seriously. Poor guy
At that point you are better off ditching and go AWOL
6:18 "Most of the fuselage was constant radius to simplify construction." I would add that to my eye, once the plane transitions to a shrinking cross-section, it may be a perfect cone, which has similar benefits. (The term of art is "simple curve," as opposed to "compound curve.") The advantage is that you can just take a stock of flat sheet metal, cut the shape of the piece, rivet one edge, and bend it around the plane like you're putting on a band-aid. Shapes with compound curves must instead be shaped with manpower and equipment that may be in short supply. (The A-10 has mostly simple-curve body panels to aid field repairs. All other planes in US inventory require an extensive supply depot with every single replacement panel.)
Good point.
"...which surprises me since I think Nakajima planes look great." Nice dig at Subaru.
What happened to Nakajima? It is a fascinating and not well known story. After the war was over, Nakajima and seven smaller companies, among them a scooter manufacturer, were grouped together in an industrial conglomerate. Among the first products was the Fuji Rabbit scooter, of all things. It was called Fuji Rabbit because of the conglomerates name, Fuji Heavy Industries. Eventually Fuji started building cars. The brand name of these cars? Subaru. Great video!
My uncle bought a fuji rabbit 200 as his first vehicle, he got my dad to bring it home as he had experience with motorcycles and my uncle didnt but wanted to learn (he was a bit slow apparently) my dad apparently was rather scheptical of this brand new japanese scooter on the bus trip to get it, telling my uncle it will probably have been a waste of money and so on, well, when my dad got on it and rode it, he fell in love with it, he loved the shape, it had plenty of power and so fourth, in fact he loved it so much that he tried to show off when entering the street my grandparents lived on and got thrown off it 😂 my poor uncle, brand new scooter with gravel rash down one side after 2 miles of ownership that he had not even ridden himself. My dad had it repaired for him, he had it for many years, my grandfather and dad were fascinated by it, my grandpa (ex ww2 aircraft mechanic for hungary) said it was very good, the japanese know what theyre doing, so from then on, they were converted to buying japanese vehicles, my grandpa got a daihatsu hijet two stroke van, my dad got a 64 toyota crown, and my uncle had the scooter untill the late 70's when he got an isuzu luv diesel, then every time a new model came out, he upgraded to the new one, untill 1995 when he bought his last isuzu rodeo dual cab diesel, he didnt like the next model, so he kept that one untill recently when he passed away. One little scooter changed a whole family of peoples outlook on japanese manufacturing.
That’s a cool story.
@@shakeydavesr I have a 2001 Subaru Outback LL Bean with the H6 engine; It is the one of the best cars I've ever owned. AND it was built in the United States, Indiana.
@@Colt45hatchback THAT is an AWESOME story!
I would buy your grandpa a beer...
"Because most Nakajima aircraft look great." Ouch! Burn! Subaru!
Excellent channel with great narrative, understandable, very good English for non-native speakers! 👌👌👌
From the early 30s Nakajima was supplied with propellers by Nippon Gakki. At first wooden props because of the company’s fine quality making musical instruments and then in aluminum from 1937 on through the war. The machining equipment from the Hamamatsu factory was removed during the naval bombardment of the city near the end of the war and hidden in farms in the hills nearby. Nippon Gakki was the parent company of Yamaha Motor Company which became separate from the music company in 1955. The metal working experience and machine tools that made the props for Nakajima were repurposed by Yamaha to make motorcycle parts. Both Subaru and Yamaha are now partially owned by Toyota.
is toyota still owned by toyoda family?
@@jebise1126 yes
Hamamatsu is half-way between Tokyo and Nagoya, and is the home of Yamaha, Suzuki, and Roland music companies. Right in front of the station is a great music instrument museum. I'd highly recommend to any musician to get out at that station and take a look before continuing your journey.
As pointed out by Mike Goodwin/Peter Starkings in their book on Japanese Aero-Engines, not only did the Japanese Army and Navy not get along, they developed their air arms independently such that each service had their own standardized specifications for aero engine components. So for example, a Nakajima engine might be identical in basic design for Navy or Army use, but an engine built for the one service was was completely not usable by the other service. For example, the Naval engine would have different pipe sizing, bolt sizes and even simple things like screws having a different thread pitch compared to a similar engine built for the Army. A reason why an Army identification for a near identical design uses a different naming system than the same engine design in Naval service.
According to the reference book, "Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War" by Rene J Francillon, p241, "The all-metal wings had stressed-skin outer surfaces, the fuselage had a steel structure with tin engine cowling and steel panels on the front- and centre-sections..." "A variety of surplus engines could be used and were to be attached to the fuelage by four bolts".
This seems like it would be an easy to build kit plane
Hi Greg. I’ve herd said, in fact I’ve said it myself- but it bears repeating; How much we readers of your column appreciate your sharing these synopses of your forays into historical research. God Bless, thank you, and Blessings on mrs. Greg and the entire household.
Hey Greg! If you're making more videos on Japanese aircraft, I thought you might like to know that the rules for pronunciation of Japanese words are actually very simple! Vowels always make only one sound, and are never changed by anything else. A always makes an "ah" sound as in "hall" I always makes an "ee" sound as in "field" or "oblique" U always makes an "ooh" sound as in "flute" E always makes an "eh" sound as in "egg" O always makes an "oh" sound as in "radio" These sounds always apply, no matter what combinations of letters are used, even with the "e" at the end of a word which is silent in English, it's always pronounced in Japanese. Hope this helps!
Almost. Compound vowels can sound very similar to other western sounds, such as "ai" sounding like "eye." If you say "a" then "i" over and over, speeding it up, you'll eventually get to "eye." It's similar to the "r" sound being between "r" and "l."
@@princeofcupspoc9073 greg just needs to watch more anime. it's the only possible solution.
Each of the letters a, i, u, o, e also have a long version, as in your example 'ai' given by Pincefcups..., and 'u' is not always pronounced at the end of some words; and 'n' varies depending on whether it starts a syllable or ends it: so not always straightforward.
@@princeofcupspoc9073 I realize that it does get more complicated, but I was trying to keep it simple. With the basic vowel sounds you can pretty much figure out any pronunciation
@@stephenarbon2227 I think it is but the „u“ has such a weak ring that you don’t really notice it and it just sounds like it’s not pronounced. Sasuke from Naruto sounds like Saske but that’s because s and su sounds very similar to unfamiliar ears and is not pronounced like the su in „super“ or „soup“. It’s more akin to the German ü sound.
I love how greg finaly makes videos on the japanese army planes :> That Subaru slander tho :D
There's a KZheadr- Channel name Dynodon 64, who's building a scale WAR Corsair experimental airplane using a Subaru car engine....
The other issue on the possibility of the plane returning to belly land is the non-droppable and half-exposed bomb on the underside of the plane...
All this just to make the point "pilots are not expendable"? And the burn for Subaru :D I love listening to Your voice
The delivery of "it's not" was perfect. As always, love the content, Greg
I looking those pictures and had a a very disquiet feeling. And respect on all pilots that made the kamikaze trip on a allready obsolete defence of my country. Hope we see no more things likes this. But always, good resarch Greg and thank you for this content.
It's not a thing to feel bad about, Takuma-san. Previous generations of all our countries did things we will never do again. We are not them.
@@lqr824 Not everywhere it's the case. Look at Russia today.
@@volters9561 You're certainly correct there. Many (or most, or all?) nations were excessively cruel in the past in ways that were not acceptable--and strides have been taken to correct them. For example the US used to have slavery, used to relocate native Americans by force, locked up Japanese-American civilians in camps while doing nothing of the kind to German-Americans or Italian-Americans, and so on. But we've also taken great pains to correct these, even if not totally corrected yet. Germany too, obviously, has utterly left its genocidal ways behind. BUT YES AS YOU SAY: RUSSIA IS PROBABLY NEARLY AS BAD NOW AS ANY TIME IN ITS HISTORY. ZERO PROGRESS. JUST TAKING WHAT YOU WANT BY FORCE, RAPING, MURDERING CIVILIANS FOR SPORT. UTTERLY DISGUSTING.
@@lqr824 Some Italian Americans were interned during the war, as were thousands of Italian nationals. There was a plan to intern all of them, like Japanese Americans, but it wasn't practical. Also, AP Giannini, founder of Bank of America, told FDR to screw himself. This was all covered up at the time.
@@gregmuon Sure it was discussed briefly, but dropped. If it was taken up temporarily, it was only on the smallest of scales. One of the people involved in setting up the camps who was interviewed in the 1974 ITV series World at War was shown saying something to the effect of: "there were of course too many German and Italian Americans to lock up... and anyway they were GOOD Americans." I believe Joe DeMaggio is credited with explaining to America that Italian Americans' loyalty lay with America, which I guess was nice if you were Italian American, but Joe didn't speak up for Japanese-Americans and Japanese-Americans hadn't been around long enough to gain DeMaggio's hero tatus anyway. Besides, if you're going to lock up Americans of specific foreign ancestries, but only have enough budget to lock up say 10% of them, why use that budget to nearly exclusively to lock up people of ancestry A, but nearly none of it for ancestry B or C? Unless you were racist, why not just lock up 10% of all people of ancestries you were concerned about?
"Nakajima, of course, became Subaru, a fact which surprises me because most Nakajima aircraft look great" Haha, couldn't be more true. Subaru wasn't much of a designer, their late 90s and early 00s Legacies are one of the few cars I really like looks-wise.
Greg has obviously never seen an SVX, those are absolute art.
@@mbryson2899 That's fair, but with the cost of running one it's expensive to even look at it.
I had to laugh at that sick burn. Good one Greg! Even though I'm team Honda, I in fact think Subarus look great, but a good burn is a good burn. 🤣
How about the wrx rally cars ?
@@964cuplove Are those are the ones that look like a kiddie toy blown up to full scale?
If a plane like this is your “plan” for victory, you’ve already lost.
A good book on the Kamikaze topic is "Memoirs of a Kamikaze" by Kazu Odachi. They don't recall if this plane was mentioned in his book, but he talked about the tough training and that there were two classes of kamikaze pilots; those who were regular well-trained pilots essentially forced to fly these missions, and those who received minimal training and we're not really pilots at all. I also found interesting in the book that Odachi and others flew CAP for the fledgling kamikaze pilots so they were with some protection when they went on their runs.
GREG - thank you for this informative presentation - on a subject that I was unaware of.
The famed actor, Toshiro Mifune's job during the war was training kamikaze pilots. I've often wondered if that played a role in his later life problems with alcohol. It's far more probable, though, that I have less than the beginning of a clue about what that aviation job was like, much less understand how Mifune felt about it.
Yes, it is very possible that Toshiro Mifune's dedication to alcohol derived from training very inexperienced young pilots on a one way ticket. But it is good to remember that many Japanese people were simply traumatised from very heavy bombings they had to witness.
@@paoloviti6156 That was my point at the end. In short, I very much agree with you.
@@paoloviti6156 except that you're looking at this from a western perspective. I think if you had the Japanese cultural perspective of the time you might feel differently. At the end of the day it was all one big epic tragedy that this war even had to occur but the Japanese were brutal Empire and they treated their own people with the same disregard for human life that they treated others....
@@Mike-eq4ky absolutely true, again you are correct...
@@paoloviti6156... And I don't mean to imply that I don't have empathy and respect for these fine Japanese pilots, they were both products and prisoners of their time. When you look at those photos you realize it might have been you...
Very informative content Greg
Thanks for this video. As a student of WW2, I love every new piece of information I can get on experimental weapons, particularly aircraft. Much appreciated!
I don’t know what you drive, Greg, but I love my Subaru. My 7th in 30 years.
I only needed two F-150s to cover thirty years.😁
I believe the surviving Ki-115 is owned by the National Air and Space Museum, either on loan or de-accessioned to Pima County Air Museum. The best and most accurate information would be found in Curator Bob Mikesh's many writings, which often referenced this aircraft. He and two Japanese historians with whom he frequently collaborated, cleared up many errors and myths about Nippon's WWII aircraft and industry. I saw the aircraft in storage at Silver Hill, MD and it was the epitome of spartan design, simplicity, and pragmatism. Note in the one photo of the surviving aircraft that the engine has dropped down. According to NASM's original aviation curator Paul Garber, who rescued these aircraft from scrapping in the early 50s, it was dropped a few feet while unloading from a rail flat car. The engine mount was so lightly stressed, not intended to withstand landings or maneuvers', that it broke into that position. NASM's committees evaluated the history and significance of the Ki-115 and its condition, and did not consider it worthy of the expense of restoration nor the space for display. Note that the Japanese developed many types of dedicated human guided suicide vehicles, including glider, jet and rocket powered Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohkas, submarines, light attack boats and tracked and wheeled land vehicles. Civilians were encouraged to approach and hug invaders before detonating grenades or other explosives.
That they ever progressed to designing, building, and testing an aircraft that was specifically meant to kill its pilot shows that the inmates were running the asylum.
I highly recommend Dan Carlins Hardcore History: "Supernova in the East" 6-parts, 18 hours of WWII Pacific Theater history. Focuses a lot of Japanese culture at the time, last I checked those episodes are still available for free on his site.
Actually at this point kamikazes scored more hits per aircraft/pilot lost than conventional attacks. You were more likely to die without hitting your target in a torpedo bomber than a kamikaze, and the attrition rate for conventional attacks was so bad that even accounting for surviving aircraft making future attack runs, kamikazes were a better use of aircraft and pilots. It’s macabre and counterintuitive, but the US antiaircraft action summaries on NHHC state this explicitly with data from aircraft that arrived over the fleet to back it up.
@@Imbeachedwhale yeh, I suspect thsts why the video included pilots lost in development, pilots lost in training and pilots lost on sorty without attacking. Not just pilots lost on the attack run. Aiding the other side in attrition does not seem to be a war winning strategy.
I don't know about that, Lucas-fan. The US thought 7 in 10 would die on some beaches on D-Day, and awarded medals to infantry carrying out apparently kamikaze-type attacks, whether posthumously or in the freak occurence of their survival. Giving one's life for one's country is considered noble, not insanity. With the information the low-level recruits or even the top brass actually had, they didn't realize they were in a no-win situation, and could plausibly reckon that their sacrifice would save other's lives. Comparing how many died bombing Germany, it's plausible that had B-17s been set up to kamikaze, they'd be so much more accurate that far fewer American lives would have been lost to do equivalent damage, yet you would write that saving of lives off as crazy?
@@lqr824 There's a difference between a suicide-attack performed basically spur-of-the-moment or an attack where recovering one's forces is incredibly unlikely compared to building out an entire class of aircraft without landing gear with the intent that the pilot knows from joining the unit that he is expected to kill himself. The British had a famous attack on a drydock as a commando raid that caused incredible losses among their personnel, but they at least made a token attempt to foster withdrawal after the objectives were satisfied. They knew that the Germans would be out for blood but they did not insist that their commandos specifically perform the ultmate sacrifice in making the attack. Their losses were due to enemy action, not their action.
Pilots have never been Expendable they are some of the more valuable assets that any government has in their position on the other hand journalists and politicians are very Expendable there are thousands more people that could do the job just as well waiting to join. Historians on the other hand are also very valuable because they help keep a society from repeating their mistakes. Unfortunately the politicians and journalists don't understand that fact.
I worked for someone in mgmt. at an airline who said "pilots are like tires, we wear them out and change them". I'm not making that up.
@@GregsAirplanesandAutomobiles Sad affair that most, if not all bean counters wear blinders... McNamara sure did yet as inventive in stupidity he was, Mac was just trying to reinvent himself & keep his job...
@@GregsAirplanesandAutomobiles if that were actually true they wouldn't be paid so well and there wouldn't be a severe shortage right now. my brother just switched careers from a good paying navy job to airline pilot cuz they're paying ridiculous bonuses for even regional airlines. whoever said that to you is just a soulless piece of shit.
@Thomas LeMay I don't agree with that statement as any person in a profession is irreplaceable if they're good at their jobs. Sadly among journalists and politicians there are few that are that good at their job. The same can even be said about historians, but there probably aren't enough historians to make the bad ones visible enough.
U.S. policy in WWII was implicit, don't send a person when you can send a bullet. The German Generals complained the U.S. Army depended too much on artillery. Evidently they had never heard the expression "if you have a big gun, shoot it".
So fascinating - always the best! Thank you!
Thankyou for another interesting video. High quality content as always.
You should totally do a video on the La-5!! I’d love to learn more about the aircrafts design but can’t find much in depth info! I feel like your channel would do that perfectly!
2:40 Japan has a flower for every month. After cherry blossoms for March, wisteria comes in April. So, wisteria is a pretty obvious name for things. If in Tokyo in mid-April, Kameido Tenjin is the go-to place and you can also see turtles stacked 4-5 high on rocks in the pond. ("I know this from personal experience.") Confusingly, the wisteria is called the "fuji" in Japan but not the Mt. Fuji fuji (whose meaning is unclear). Even more confusingly there's a prefecture of Japan known as Fujiyama, "Wisteria Mountain," and many travel guides mistakenly have this term for the famous volcano Fuji-san. (San and yama are two readings of the same Chinese character; to understand this, imagine * is a symbol that English-speakers used to mean water, and it was pronounced "water" in some contexts but "hydro" or "aqua" in other contexts.) As Greg says: "anyway..."
Yep, kanji is weird. In this case, wisteria flower is pronounced as Touka, instead of Fuji-hana. Same with their other suicide craft being pronounced Ohka instead of Sakura (cherry blossom).
Isn't the Kanji for the fu in Fujii-San "fuku", as 富, meaning rich?
@@richarddouglas688 Well, yes, it is WRITTEN with kanjis that typically mean "wealthy" or "productive" or "bountiful," plus one meaning Samurai. But "bountiful samurai" just doesn't make sense. (It's not "rich" in the sense of having money.) So back in the 600s, before they had any native script, sometimes*** they wrote their Japanese language by using Chinese characters just for their sounds, utterly disregarding the actual meaning. This was done in a poem compilation called the manyoshu, and from that is derived the term for writing an entire work thusly: manyogana. Doing it for just a word here or there instead is called ateji. Sometimes you can get a double-whammy by writing a word with one meaning, but writing it with kanji whose sounds spell that first word out when read aloud but otherwise have a second meaning of their own that also contributes a bit of spin. It's likely that Fuji-the-mountain was originally ateji, and that the fu and ji characters were picked of many possible characters to write it just because they have nice positive meanings themselves. To make things more difficult: we also don't even know what "Fuji" was supposed to mean, but it was thought to be a word play on "no two," meaning, "incomparable." There are historical documents mentioning this, and yet it's also not clear whether it is actual fact or was just a widely-held supposition at that time. *** In case you're wondering what they did other times, the other approach was either to simply write Chinese when they wanted to write at all, called kanbun, or, write Chinese but modified to fit Japanese word ordering. A lack of understanding of Chinese made the second of these kanbuns more common. Meanwhile, manyogana was simplified drastically and became the hiragana and katakana that augment Chinese characters today in Japanese writing. As Greg says, "Anyways,..."
In simple terms, nearly all kanji have multiple readings/pronunciations. To anyone literate in Japanese, 藤 being both "fuji" and "tou" is expected and normal.
I was just at Pima last Monday and got to see it in person. It is in sad shape but that is to be expected from an expendable aircraft. Now I have to go look at my pictures of it to go with what you were talking about.
At first glance it looks like a sleek, powerful fighter; it's not." I'm dead, lol. Also, 211 mph at the end of the war? That blew my mind. Even for a desperation weapon.
K........................more like the "eternal sitting duck " ............with a bomb in gizzard ???
I know nothing about flying, but I presume that slower is better for ease-of-flying? Given the quality of pilots they had at that point, would a faster plane have potentially been a bigger problem. Greg calls it a deathtrap, but I wonder how much of that was due to the plane, and how much was due to the fact they were taking people with almost no training and telling them to fly that plane and then crash it into a ship.
@@shannonkohl68 Slower isn't any easier really and it makes you a much much easier target for enemy fighters and AA.
Great research and content again. And I thought I was well " up to speed " on all things WW11 aviation . Gregs post on the Ki-115 is a first for me... Well done again mate...! Thankyou
One of the pictures in your video clearly shows surface corrosion on the fuselage skin. At least that one aircraft had (cheap) steel for its skin. But, as you alluded in your video they could have been made from whatever was available at the time of construction. Very interesting video!
Wisteria is great for making a climbing tree from non climbing trees, and it would keep high wind from sweeping away a house, according to a song of my youth
I believe the word Subaru means unite. Love when you dip into these topics, Greg. I would think that this stage even when using the cheapest materials possible..it was still a waste of time and resources not to mention fuel. The story about the pilot who came back and was shot.. Did they warn him? " You come back one more time and you will be shot.". Pilot: ' Ah ..they must be kidding.". Oh..and I have a Subaru..and I love the ugly, little dependable beast.
Great video as always thanks! I didn't know that this plane existed. I'm always entertained by post war Kamikaze pilot interviews.
I remember reading about this airplane years ago and thinking to myself how much it would suck being a pilot in one of these. Good video!
At least you get to fly a plane for your last few hours on Earth, as compared to explosive vest infantry guy...
@@obsidianjane4413 Or one of the engine room crew as the the battleship Yamato made it's final suicide voyage.
"...the Japanese finally learned the value of pilots". Now we wait for Ryanair to do the same.
VERY interesting, Greg, and a great photo at about 0:40 - it's one I've not seen before, and I've seen a LOT of photos of kamikaze aircraft and attacks, including the one that hit the Lexington on 5 November, 1944, off the Philippines, when VF-19 (my Dad's squadron) was nearing the end of its combat tour. The Ki-115 must mark a milestone for Japan in WW 2, as there are few instances (per "Captain_Dorja" below) during the war when their Army Air Force and Navy agreed about anything, much less a combat aircraft. I'm a little puzzled by the "sheet steel" skin for the fuselage - doped (painted) fabric (as was done for ailerons and rudder) would have served the same purpose, using even less strategic materials. I laughed out loud at your Nakajima/Subaru appearance notation.
I wonder if the decision not to use fabric for the fuselage was because fabrics may have been just as scarce. You cant exact make clothes for soldiers out of metal.
I think the image might be USS St. Lo in the aftermath of the Battle off Samar. Pretty sure I've seen that image associated with that ship. Context, she was part of TF77.3 and had just escaped being steamrolled by the Center Force when the first ever kamikaze strike was launched against them. St. Lo was hit and sank, becoming the first ship to be destroyed in this manner. That was late October of '44
My uncle, Gene Rocchi, was the officer in charge of the two quad 40mm mounts immediately aft of the island. I have an official Navy photo of him standing at attention on the Lexington's flight deck during burial at sea services the following day. His khakis are still filthy from the fire. I still remember my uncle taking me with him to San Francisco (or maybe NAS Alameda?) about 1960 to visit the Lex. I was probably a freshman in H.S. then.
@@francisbusa1074 I have a couple photos of that ceremony, too. Lots of history books show the attacks, few show the casualties.
@@rayschoch5882 Yes, I've seen where so many men were burned alive in the 20 mm gun gallery at the outboard side of the island.
Greg coming at Subaru from the top rope…
That photo at the end is literally looking at ghosts
The structure of Ki-115 was made by wood. This material may cause US Navy’s ammunition fuse can’t work properly. The last ship sunk by Kamikaze is USS Callaghan. A K5Y biplane made by wood and fabric survived the firepower of AA gun. Crashed into the engine room and led USS Callaghan sink. It’s quite hard to image that such kind of small plane could create serious damage to a destroyer.
Greg I love how detailed your videos are! Please post more ww2 aircraft and how they operated. Iked and shared!!!
Thanks Dustin, I have over 100 right now, and more on the way.
Damn I was at Pima air and space and missed this. There’s just so much to see there
When you start taking a gamble, aiming for a big hole and hoping for an upset, you're done for!
With only 100+ built its amazing one still exist today. Looks like the canopy area was from the Baka bomb.
The pronunciations are pretty good. Great video!!!
That last picture of Japanese pilots is incredible.
What a waste of talent and human life. There is... Some... Twisted logic to using Kamakazi... Suicide attacks... As an act of desperation in an effort to save your people but not even understanding the operational environment these poor Pilots were forced to execute their mission in makes it even more tragic, specifically examples like not having landing gear on the airplane when it could take five missions to actually find a target! The waste of human life is just insane...
They were trash. They were trained to mercilessly kill and kill for sport. The best thing for Japan was to be blasted into oblivian. Sorry, but they were evil personified.
Sadly true. My only point being that if you had been a Japanese youth raised in that time period of the Japanese empire under the Bushido code and they're disdain for any non-japanese adventure to Guess that you would have turned out exactly the same. And by this point in the war they weren't even trained enough to land an aircraft safely once they got it into the air so they had no chance whatsoever, hence the comment about empathy
If you get a chance, the Japanese movie "The Eternal Zero" is an entertaining flick which explores some of the issues around the use of kamakazi's.
@@Mike-eq4ky Sympathy for the devil, eh? They were trained to treat all other people as animals and made the Germans look like boy scouts in comparison. No empathy for them conducting the genicide of millions of people nor the tools they used to do the genocide. We should not marvel at German gas chambers nor at the Japanese methods. Sorry, evil is evil.
10:26 Notice the different level of sheen on the engine cowling on this unpainted example. I recall one source stating the cowling was made of tin.
Very interesting! Nakajima was resilient and innovative. Nakajima made Japan's first jet aircraft, the Nakajima (J9N1) Kikka 橘花 (Orange Blossom) for the navy, with the Nakajima Ki-201 Karyu 火龍 (Fire Dragon) for the army under construction at war's end. Post-war Nakajima returned as Fuji Heavy Industries, creating Japan's first post-war jet, the Fuji T1F1 Hatsutaka 初鷹 (Young Falcon).
I've never heard of this aircraft. Very interesting.
7:48 "Nakajima, of course, became Subaru-a fact which surprises me because most Nakajima aircraft look great." OK...that one got a guffaw outa me...and then, "Jeez...where's my sweater. That was *_cold,_* Greg!:" Too funny. So...er, I take it that, from your perspective, Subaru can look forward to a great deal of growth in the area of producing great looking vehicles. (heh) Anyhow, great video, as always. Love your channel, man. Truly among the very best content on KZhead! 😎
"...guffaw..." me too:) - although I liked my 2002 WRX.
Hi Greg, again a really great video! The subject of "suicide pilots" is one quite dear to me as a glider-pilot friend had, during his service in WWII, been ordered to join a ramming group. These were technically suicide missions with a theoretical chance of survival. He said the "application" for a given mission was quite simple. The CO ordered the flight to stand in one line and count through up to two respectively. "Ones to the barracks, twos man the aircraft!" Lucky for him, his engine failed on the way out, so he could reach altitude. What is your sentiment on more developed manned ordinance such as the Okha? Or near-suicide concepts like the Natter? Have you a more "academic" insight in the strategy of "bad-odds" piloting?
Great video about a very interesting topic
The Styling of Subaru till at least the 90s was not bad at all in my judgement. I had a early 80s "1600" Station Wagon, liked it very much and it had some interesting design/functional elements
6:56 Judging by what appears to be surface rust in this illustration, the tail is covered in fabric, the entire fuselage is covered in sheet steel, and the engine cowl is aluminum.
I think you're right.
Great content
Nakajima originally changed its name to Fuji Heavy Industries, but in April 2017 changed it again to the current Subaru Corporation.
Marvellous footnote to the Pacific War. I've never seen the cost effectiveness of kamikaze so clearly explained, and you bring out a lot of points which are only obvious when someone has shown them to you, i.e., they are kind of non-obvious points, meaning the Japanese High Command was not really thinking things through.. Thank you Greg.
The Japanese High Command had a really old-fashioned view of war, in many respects, which really came back to bite them in their behinds later.
@@MrAstrojensen Many Japanese officers realized they were in trouble when their bansia charges against the Marines on Guadalcanal failed. They learned what the French, British, Germans, and Americans learned in WWI, human flesh is no match for automatic weapons.
@@MrAstrojensen Yes, the Allies stunned the world by declaring right from the start of the war that they would continue the war of aggression until the other side did everything they asked unconditionally! This was a surprise to the world, because no country in history has ever started a war with such a declaration. In the US, there was no speech of explanation to the public, but in the UK, there was a speech to the public urging them not to take this as a barbaric declaration. Japanese officers thought that Americans had learned in WW1 that there was no point in sending their children to foreign theaters of war where it would be useless to the masses, but it took until the Vietnam War for them to learn. Also, only the British and the US used very advanced warfare methods such as bombing cities for mass civilian casualties, which was not explicitly stated in international law because no one thought they would ever do it.
Due to a severe shortage of aviation fuel, Kamikaze missions were launched with just enough fuel to reach Okinawa. After all they were meant to be one way missions. Pilots who did not find targets would have chosen to crash into sea anyway as they would not have dared brought shame to their families by trying to return - which they could not have done anyway.
7:52 I burst out laughing, wasn't expecting this at all hahahah. Thanks Greg!
Fascinating thanks!
Wonderful video, I was not even aware of this plane, I know the Japanese experimented with many one way types of planes, but not this one. It seems as though they wasted a lot of resources on things like this. Thankyou once again for a great history lesson!!!
7:48 Oooof! That burn!
1st class. ..thanks for sharing
From Wikipedia: "Tsurugi (Sword - what the Japanese Army called it) had very poor take-off and landing performance" - I don't think poor landing performance would have been expected to be a factor...
That color photo seems to me, to confirm the aluminum cowling theory...
I actually never heard of this one, I guess there is no need to make the gear retractable, if you can make it detachable instead.
Ah!! That’s how they reuse the gears! Thanks
It's ironic that at the same time the Japanese were resorting to this they had prioritized installing water-methanol boost in the Ki-100 and a two stage three speed supercharger in the Ki-84. The phrase "driven by desperation" comes to mind!
As to the material used in construction of the fuselage, the aircraft pictured at 6:56 definitely looks like the skin of the fuselage is has surface rust, all the way from the tail to the cowling. The cowling itself has no discoloration. I suppose it could be primer showing through the silver, but why would they bother with primer?
I was at the Pima Air and Space Museum today. Looks like the fuselage and wing tips are sheet metal (iron/steel) they are rusted brown and pitted. The wings are covered in aluminum (bare) and are still silver in color. I have some pictures of it.
Thanks Ernie!
I'm sitting here checking your channel every hour for that 84 video lmao
Going to the Pima museum today - will have a look
Please let us know, and start a new comment with the info as this one will be buried by then.
On the runway: Japanese Soldier: "I got a letter from your parents." 🧾😮 Kamikaze Pilot: "Put it on my bunk. I'll read it later." 😊 Japanese Soldier: 🤨
Aloha and happy V-Day and enduring peace!
NHK, Japan''s national broadcasting company, produced a TV documentary on the Kamikaze which asked the question: "Why was the kamikaze program continued and expanded in spite of the fact that it wasn't achieving the stated aim of protecting Japan? The producers had access to recordings of general staff meetings, notes taken of those meetings, and the diaries and writings of members of the general staff. The conclusion they came to was that during the final months of the war the kamikaze program was expanded not in an effort to 'protect Japan' but to convince the allies to agree to a negotiated peace settlement - a settlement which would've allowed Japan's military rulers to stay in power.
"By the end of 1945, the Japanese High Command realized that pilots were not expendable." Me: Uh....
An aviation nugget of history I had never heard of. ✌
Thanks for your comment. In every video I sincerely try to provide info people haven't heard, even about commonly see airplanes.
My dad was on the battleship USS North Carolina in WWll 🇺🇸⚓
OUCH the Subaru shade!
My Uncle UW was on a troop ship - not sure what type- in Leyte Gulf on December 10th, 1944. His ship was hit by a kamikaze that day which marked the first organized, purposeful kamikaze attack of the war to that time. Uncle UW (his name was U W - not an abbreviation- was burned horribly. He lived 3 days. Likely they had him really drugged up cause the pain would have been hideous. He was buried at sea on December 13th 1944. His Mom, my Grand mother on my Dad’s side had a severe breakdown when she got the telegram and never recovered. I remember her. She was a sweet woman but clearly part of her sanity was lost on the day she got the telegram. Incidentally, Uncle UW won a bronze star - most likely while fighting in new guinea in 43. Carlisle Barracks verified his award of the medal but his records burned in the big fire circa 1973.
Sorry to hear of all the misery your family suffered. Thank you for sharing this story.
My uncle Joe was on a minesweeper off Okinawa, probably a picket boat mission, and they were hit multiple times by suicide flyers. Lost half their crew.
It seems surreal that his death was 78 years ago. It isn’t impossible that I could be alive 22 years from now which would make it 100 years since my Uncle was killed/died of wounds. The past isn’t as distant as it seems sometimes. We , most all of us, have connections that go that far back. I have known men who’s brothers rode with Forrest in the great war of northern aggression (southern sympathy showing). My wife’s great x 2 or 3 grandfather was a private in company C of the 19th Alabama volunteers. Known as the Jefferson Warriors (Jefferson County was where he lived), he joined at 15 in 1862. He was wounded at the battle of Atlanta and at Franklin, TN. He was captured in Dec of 44 on the Hillsborough Pike south of Nashville in 1864 terms. In Nashville today.
@@carltodd1486 That is cool that you’ve been able to find out so much of your family history. My grandfather (mothers father) had passed in the early nineties a number of years after he had a debilitating stroke the partially paralyzed on his right side. He regained mobility for the most part, but his speech was muffled, like how someone talks when they have a sore throat. But I was in grade school at the time of his stroke and only remember very little of what he’d told me about what he’d told me about his time in the military. He was an orphan in era leading up to the Great Depression in the Chicago area and ran away and joined the army with forged papers because he was too young. I had stumbled across a website that had military registrations of some sort and found a list where had signed up at a place in Illinois and went to basic in Pearl Harbor, or went to Basic training, then was sent to Pearl Harbor. Can’t remember, and cannot for the life of me remember the website I found the info on,,, arrrrgh,,, it was just a couple years ago, but I had saved a screenshot of it and lost it when phoned froze and crashed. Serious heartbreak there,,, All I really remember was that he was in the Corp of Engineers, (retired I believe in the seventies from Ft Belvoir in VA, 5 miles from where I grew up) But really the only thing that stands out in my mind was that I Romberg he said he put down metal decking for airstrips, I think my grandmother said it was in Europe. He also was in Korea. I remember as a small child going with my Grandmother to pick him up from work on base and I just wanted to climb on the dozer,,, lol. But he went to work as a civilian still running equipment and another thing I recall was that he said he would go fill in holes after missle testing. He even brought home a couple of small parachutes from whatever they were launching. THOSE, I remember vividly because I damn near broke both my legs jumping out of trees thinking the parachutes would slow me down,,,,nope,,,LOL. But, I really wish I knew more about his military history. I still kick myself for not locating the website I mentioned before.
@@shakeydavesr Sounds like your man was what the Navy would have called a SeaBee. Construction battalions were essential . Without them there would be no airstrips, no docking facilities for ships to unload, no facilities for troops to occupy (as opposed to flopping in the jungle - not gonna be combat effective for long if you sleep in mud in the rain while being shot at, shelled, infiltrated etc. As for airfields, they used a product called pierced steel planking. It worked wonders. It was quick to install and made airstrips usable very quickly. And these strips we reasonably easy to repair as opposed to tar MacAdam (tarmac).
The Japanese military treated those kamikaze pilots terribly, too. Not all were volunteers, a number were forced into it. Their treatment during training was awful, one surviving kamikaze pilot said that it was so bad that any showing up for training with patriotism, he quickly lost it because was quickly beaten out of them.
That wasn't at all unique to the Kamikazes. That was pretty standard in the Japanese military, especially the Army.
I don't see a single person in Japan who has sued their country for forcing them to become a member of a kamikaze unit.
Would love to see some videos on the N1K-J. I'm really interested in a comparison with the Ki 84, to see which late war Japanese fighter was the best.
Very Interesting
Thank you
Fascinating
Subarus look the way they do because Subaru seriously puts style at the very bottom of their priorities. They didn't even have a department for design up until the 90s or so. Subarus are cars where the customers desire in functionality and the engineers opinions matter. Not much else. I respect that. Look up the video on Subaru's history by Hagerty. They have the single best car-related channel on KZhead.
No, there are 9 year olds that draw better looking cars.
@@GregsAirplanesandAutomobiles Well that's the point. Subaru literally does not care to keep costs down for the customers.
Imagine having to build one of these with the thought that one of your children would end up piloting it.
Great work! I don’t even know there is a fighter like this, check on wiki (I know I shall not do that) you can see there is no Chinese description of it. Thanks for sharing
Apart from the obvious abhorrence of the whole Kamakaze concept, some pilots would have been truly naturally gifted, and who could tell what they could achieve if given a decent convetional plane.
Nice video Greg, I never really knew of this aircraft. I also like the mix of shorter videos, (so does my wife) !
Hello Greg, years ago I read a book "I Was a Kamakazie" which had been written by a pilot who had volunteered for "Special attack duties" but never found a suitable target. Unlike the pilot that you allude to, he survived the war. Getting to the point, I recall reading in the addendum at the back of the book the 115 was very difficult to fly, so this made the aircraft extremely unsuitable. One would think that with a lightweight airframe that is not stressed for high G maneuvers, not required to carry armour or guns, the designers could gave obtained decent handling and reasonable speed on 800 horsepower. This was a very poor design and was apparently poorly balanced as well. The Ki 27 was faster with less power, some armament and an airframe that could take a high G loading. I really enjoy your videos.
The author of that book was Ryuji Nagatsuka.
@@pamelarobinson859 Thanks Pamela. It is in my personal library, but is a paperback and I could not find it when I wrote the post. Quite the amazing story.
I read that book probably 40+ years ago. I agree that the Ki 27 was a better “special attack” plane, but it was out of production and was made of duralumin. I think if they were determined to build a special attack plane with less strategic materials the better bet would have been a steel tube fuselage covered with wooden formers and fabric, like a Hurricane or D 21. The wings could have been wood and fabric as well with a fixed undercarriage. That is about as non strategic as you can get.
The problem facing the Japanese air arms when attacking Allied shipping was insurmountable. Highly skilled and trained torpedo and dive bomber squadrons by 1943 were getting decimated by anti-aircraft fire on every attack. Even if they they performed well and scored multiple hits, most of the planes were shot down and didn't return to base. In essence, any attack on American shipping regardless of plane type and number and pilot skill had become a kamikaze attack.
I was way off but this is bound to be interesting.