# Did any Kamakazi Pilots survive impact? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 18, 2003, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-kamakazi-pilots-survive-impact/155784 "2003-02-18T02:28:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-kamakazi-pilots-survive-impact/155784/21 "2003-02-18T15:42:44Z")
My mother-in-law’s brother was on a ship that had survived an attempted kamikaze attack. The plane hit the water, and they somehow fished him out. He was, according to my MIL’s brother, stoned beyond belief and begging to be killed. But he did survive. ---
**Author:** ![Slugworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@Slugworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slugworth)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-kamakazi-pilots-survive-impact/155784/22 "2003-02-18T17:33:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sublight \* > \*\*Even more grisly, in my mind, was the submarine version of the kamikaze, the kaiten. A volunteer was loaded into what was essentially a large torpedo with a seat and a steering wheel, then fired out of the sub. If they missed their target (which they frequently did), there was no way for them to get back into the mother sub; they would just keep going until their fuel ran out, at which point the torpedo would sink until the water pressure crushed it. \*\* That’s right up there with what I had always considered the most insane of japanese tactics - A chunk of their anti-tank mines were in fact a large hole in the ground where an unfortunate japanese soldier sat with a hammer and a large bomb, waiting until a tank rolled overhead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-kamakazi-pilots-survive-impact/155784.md?page=1)