Aviation History - January 2016

january 2016 AH 53

OPPOSITE: U.S. NAVY; ABOVE PHOTOS: NATIONAL ARCHIVES; ILLUSTRATION: STEVE KARP

S

o obsessed were the

Japanese with “death

before defeat” that

even when they devel-

oped aircraft suitable for

high-speed, high-altitude

intercept similar to the

German Me-163 Komet,

they instead created the

most advanced suicide

weapon of all: the Yokosu-

ka MXY7 Model 11 Okha

(“Cherry Blossom”). Japan

built 755 of these rocket-

boosted, manned glide

bombs. The first 80 were

to have been shipped to

the Philippines to oppose

the American invasion,

but they were lost when

submarines torpedoed the

carriers Unryu and Shinano

in the last months of 1944.

(It’s thought that the Okhas

aboard Unryu exploded,

blowing the ship apart.)

Americans didn’t learn of

the new secret weapon un-

til the invasion of Okinawa,

where they captured four.

They named it the Baka,

Japanese for “fool.” Its

bare-bones controls were

sufficient only to keep it

one struck the destroyer

Stanly at such speed that it

passed completely through

the ship and out the other

side before exploding. Later

that day the destroyer escort

Mannert L. Abele, lying dead

in the water after a previ-

ous kamikaze strike, was hit

amidships by an Okha flown

by Lt. j.g. Saburo Dohi, who

had calmly napped on the

ferry flight out. The terrific

explosion broke the ship’s

keel. It snapped in two and

sank in three minutes, taking

79 crewmen with it, the most

successful Okha strike of the

war. On May 11, the destroy-

er Hugh W. Hadley, similarly

hit, remained afloat but was

so badly damaged that it

retired and was scrapped a

few months later.

To overcome the Okha’s

short legs, by war’s end

several longer-ranged

jet-bombs were under

development. The Okha

Model 22 was powered by

a motorjet (a piston engine

driving a single-stage com-

pressor). The Baika (“Plum

Blossom”) was a manned

version of the German V-1

pulse-jet buzz bomb. They

never reached operational

status. Only about 50 Model

11s saw combat, and just

four ever struck home, but

that’s enough to secure the

Cherry Blossom its curious

niche in aviation history.

D.H.

in the air for a few minutes

(its entire mission life) and

center a target in a simple

crosshair sight (no mean feat

at the Okha’s near-600-mph

terminal velocity). Perhaps

because of this, rocket-bomb

duty was highly sought by ka-

mikaze pilots. A cynic might

say that the extra training

involved extended their life

spans, but as with all suicide

attacks, skill played less of a

role than luck. With a theo-

retical range of 50 miles—but

realistically less than 10—the

Model 11 required a ferry

plane, usually a Mitsubishi

G4M2e “Betty,” to reach

launch distance. Its weight

made the bomber clumsy

and slow, easy prey for

American interceptors. Under

attack, the crew’s first move

was to dump the rocket

bomb and save themselves—

the type’s typical fate.

Yet if it reached its target

the Okha, which packed

more than 2,600 pounds

of explosive into an armor-

piercing warhead, was

capable of inflicting massive

damage. On April 12, 1945,

NOSE

FUSE

WARHEAD

BASE FUSES

PITOT

TUBE

JUNCTION BOX

OXYGEN CYLINDER

ROCKET MOTORS (3)

PROPELLANT

TECH NOTES THE CHERRY BLOSSOM

INSTRUMENT PANEL

RING AND BEAD SIGHT

rocket ride This MXY7

was captured on Okinawa.

BATTERY