Kamikaze ...

[Baron Kurtz]

An interesting interview with a kamikaze pilot who survived:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,1720082,00.html

bk

 

[geo]

It's interesting what he's saying about the fact that they were sacrificing themselves for their country, not for the emperor. Turns out they were less fanatic that everybody thought they were.

 

["Doc" Devereux]

If that's caught your attention, then I heartily reccomend "Samurai" by Saburo Sakai, the highest-scoring Japanese ace of WW2 to survive the conflict.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Wild.

He actually lucked out twice!

 

[MrBern]

VERY interesting.
Great comment about selfishness, religion, and love as motivations to wage war.

 

[Story]

More than a model: Aircraft ‘manufacturer' turns out sixth WWII replica
By LYNN BRENNAN - PHOTOGRAPHER
Published: Thursday, January 4, 2007 10:22 AM CST
http://www.eveningtribune.com/articles/2007/01/04/news/news01.txt

NUNDA - Over the last 35 years, George Lucas of Nunda has devoted tens of thousands of hours making models of WWII airplanes.

His creations are not your typical toy plane, however. The planes Lucas creates in the shop behind his house are full-size replicas.

“Anything you can see on the outside, I made,” said Lucas, while proudly displaying his newest work, a Japanese Kamikaze suicide plane, nicknamed “Baka,” meaning fool or stupid.
*

The planes, made completely of wood, masonite and the most unlikely objects - paint can covers as the cockpit dials, etc. - look like they could take off at any moment.

“I don't do any mechanical work,” said Lucas. “It's just the body, a model.”

The suicide plane is the sixth plane in his fleet.

Lucas started building the planes in his basement, the first of which was destroyed in the flood of 1972 while he was building the tail. When his operation got larger he started working out of his garage. Finally, he decided to have a shed built behind his home before he retired from Mt. Morris Central School in 1996 after 31 years as an art teacher.

Although he's spent much of his life as an artist, he insists his models are not works of art.

“People have told me that it's a work of art, but it's not,” said Lucas, explaining that he makes the planes identical to the ones that flew during the war, leaving no room for creative freedom. “I buy every book I can about the airplane, then I figure out everything in my head and make the parts,” he said. He also uses three-dimensional exterior drawings as well.

“When I finish an airplane I put it outside for a week and have friends over to look at it,” said Lucas. “We've had airplanes and helicopters circling around looking at them from above.”

He said people often stop to look at the aircraft and share stories about seeing their real-life counterparts in the air over Germany.

Once the planes are complete, and friends and family have a chance to admire them, he donates them to aircraft museums across the country and in Germany. George and his wife, Karen, have had the opportunity to travel to Germany, visit the planes, and meet pilots who flew the aircraft.

“A pilot sitting in the cockpit swore it was real,” said Lucas.

Karen, is very supportive of her husband's time-consuming - and expensive - hobby.

“It's amazing,” she said.

“Sometimes I amaze myself,” George added. “It keeps me out of her hair - she always knows where I am.”

“I swore when I was doing the last plane that it was going to be my last one,” he said, “but then I started this one.”

Lucas would like to see his newest creation, which took a little less than a year to build, go to the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo, but has not yet contacted them.

He has never visited the planes he has on display at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, Calif.

“I've never been to California to see them,” Lucas said. “I don't like to fly.”

 

[Gray Ghost]

[QUOTE="Doc" Devereux]If that's caught your attention, then I heartily reccomend "Samurai" by Saburo Sakai, the highest-scoring Japanese ace of WW2 to survive the conflict.[/QUOTE]

That is one of my favorite books. Gives a good look into the other guys war. I really loved the section on pilot training. Espescially, laying on their backs in the day time and picking out stars in the sky.

Gray Ghost

 

[Twitch]

Hey Doc as a guy familiar with Sakai we know he and top ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa were sent on kamikazi missions but were turned back by huges storms. Curious to say the least.

There is an old book called Kamikaze by Yasuo Kuwahara. My copy is 1957 but there could be later re-prints. Used book store trip though I guess. He was trained to kamikaze but for various reasons they never got around to putting him in a mission. Interesting insight nonetheless.

 

[Fletch]

He has never visited the planes he has on display at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, Calif.

“I've never been to California to see them,” Lucas said. “I don't like to fly.”

Someone ought to tell him they actually don't bolt the plane shut over you, and you do have landing gear.

 

[Gray Ghost]

Kamikaze

When my father was in the Philippines, he and some of his buddies found a Japanese fighter that had crashed land in the surf. They figured it to be Kamakaze due to the fact that the cockpit was sealed shut from the outside. They pried it open and my dad ended up with a small green cloth covered book that was written in Japanese, that I still have, and a silk Japanese flag with writing on it, my brother has that one. Not sure if the book was Japanese scriptures or what it could be. Have been meaning to have it translated. The one thing that my father thought was odd is that the cockpit was sealed shut from the ouside and not the inside. It was definetly sealed so that the pilot would not be able to open it.

Gray Ghost

 

[Story]

Kamikaze survivors debunk stereotype in stories of sacrifice

KASAMA, Japan (AP) — The pilots filed into the room and were presented with a form that asked if they wanted to be kamikaze. It was multiple-choice, and there were three answers: "I passionately wish to join," ''I wish to join," and "I don't wish to join."

http://news.yahoo.com/kamikaze-survivors-debunk-stereotype-stories-sacrifice-093537540.html

See also http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?20022-Kamikaze-remembered&highlight=kamikaze

 

[DavidJones]

Interesting story. Thanks for the link.

 

[Big J]

If you think that's good, the USS Missouri is holding a Special Attack Forces exhibition now, organized by US scholars and the Peace Museum at Chiran.
Here is an interview with one of the US organizers that debuks a load of 'Kamikaze myths';

http://japanfocus.org/-M_G_-Sheftall/4326/article.html

 

[jamespowers]

If you think that's good, the USS Missouri is holding a Special Attack Forces exhibition now, organized by US scholars and the Peace Museum at Chiran.
Here is an interview with one of the US organizers that debuks a load of 'Kamikaze myths';

http://japanfocus.org/-M_G_-Sheftall/4326/article.html

I am shocked that the Kamikazes didn't all go willingly----Shocked I say! Yeah right. More historical revisionism straightened out by fact.

 

[Big J]

I am shocked that the Kamikazes didn't all go willingly----Shocked I say! Yeah right. More historical revisionism straightened out by fact.

Yeah!

For me though, the most shocking thing was that until GHQ wrote Japan a whole new constitution after the war, the voting age in Japan was 25! (that's for men, women never had the vote until GHQ gave it to them).
That really shocked me that the Japanese leaders were sending these guys out to die, and not one of them had voted for that government. I am shocked that all of these guys under 25, trained and armed, were so totally brainwashed that they didn't think they had been taken advantage of, and had the power to take over their country.

The First World War was terrible, but in the English (and French, German, Russian) language, it established a literary tradition of the folly of blind patriotism that I think rightly is a part of our culture to this day. I can't see that 25 year old US G.I.s would have gone to war without the vote.

 

[jamespowers]

Yeah!

For me though, the most shocking thing was that until GHQ wrote Japan a whole new constitution after the war, the voting age in Japan was 25! (that's for men, women never had the vote until GHQ gave it to them).
That really shocked me that the Japanese leaders were sending these guys out to die, and not one of them had voted for that government. I am shocked that all of these guys under 25, trained and armed, were so totally brainwashed that they didn't think they had been taken advantage of, and had the power to take over their country.

The First World War was terrible, but in the English (and French, German, Russian) language, it established a literary tradition of the folly of blind patriotism that I think rightly is a part of our culture to this day. I can't see that 25 year old US G.I.s would have gone to war without the vote.

I can see all of that and I am actually shocked that they did not return to some type of tyranny. It is another one of those cases where their history is riddled with tyranny and they just got used to it. The Emperor has always been right being the assumption du jour. The fact that the citizens had not heard the emperor's voice over radio before Dougie made him get on and tell the people to stand down, is just one of those anachronisms that stand to the fore.
They did a huge about face in a short amount of time. Women voting and working outside the home etc., etc. being just a small part of it.