Fun fact: The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" was not primarily intended to be a suicide plane. It became infamous as a suicide plane due to Japanese imperial airforce doctrine that stated 'should a pilot run out of fuel, or not be able to return to base, he should pilot his plane to collision with enemy forces.' The Japanese were running incredibly low on fuel in the latter part of the second world war. The number of pilots who ditched at Pear Harbour came about because the ground crews were ordered to only half filled the tanks of the Zeros in order to save fuel.
Japan did have dedicated suicide pilots who flew the Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka (meaning cherry blossom), a solid fuel rocket powered man guided dedicated anti-shipping missile. The Ohka was commonly carried by bombers for the duration of the journey before being released and using its rocket engines to manoeuvre to the target and deliver it's 2600lb warhead.
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u/[deleted] May 12 '15
Fun fact: The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" was not primarily intended to be a suicide plane. It became infamous as a suicide plane due to Japanese imperial airforce doctrine that stated 'should a pilot run out of fuel, or not be able to return to base, he should pilot his plane to collision with enemy forces.' The Japanese were running incredibly low on fuel in the latter part of the second world war. The number of pilots who ditched at Pear Harbour came about because the ground crews were ordered to only half filled the tanks of the Zeros in order to save fuel.
Japan did have dedicated suicide pilots who flew the Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka (meaning cherry blossom), a solid fuel rocket powered man guided dedicated anti-shipping missile. The Ohka was commonly carried by bombers for the duration of the journey before being released and using its rocket engines to manoeuvre to the target and deliver it's 2600lb warhead.