# KAMAkAZIE!!!!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 29, 2000, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152 "2000-02-29T20:39:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rockchick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Rockchick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rockchick)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/1 "2000-02-29T20:39:00Z")
Kamakazie pilots were most likely going to die whatever way you look at it so WHY THE HELL DID THEY WEAR HELMETS? 😕 😕 😕 Were there ears cold or something? 🙂 * * * Dazed and Confused Rockchick ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/2 "2000-02-29T20:42:00Z")
Remember that she’s new, guys. Go easy on her. Well, not too easy; she has to learn. But don’t kill her. * * * [Change Your Password, Please](http://204.95.48.199/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ubbmisc.cgi?action=getannounce&ForumNumber=3&Start=2451545.99&End=2451911&Session=2451598.1854) and don’t use HTML, as it has been disabled ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/3 "2000-02-29T20:45:00Z")
BANZAI! -David ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/4 "2000-02-29T20:48:00Z")
This promises to be an interesting thread to watch. Buckle up rockchick, you are gonna go for an interesting ride. * * * You say neato, check your libido, and roll to the church in your new tuxedo. ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/5 "2000-02-29T20:49:00Z")
Years of testing at Tokyo’s Institute for Aeronautical Research reveled that unconscious pilots are less likely to find their targets than are unconscious ones. ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/6 "2000-02-29T20:51:00Z")
Boy did I blow that! Should read: Years of testing at Tokyo’s Institute for Aeronautical Research reveled that unconscious pilots are less likely to find their targets than are conscious ones ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/7 "2000-02-29T20:54:00Z")
It is, however, profitable for anyone with a question to at least have the courtesy to see whether the master has already answered: [Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_193.html) * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![Rockchick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Rockchick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rockchick)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/8 "2000-02-29T20:57:00Z")
## Thank u Tomndebb Bye the way the ear thing was A JOKE Dazed and Confused Rockchick ---
**Author:** ![Perderabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Perderabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perderabo)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/9 "2000-02-29T21:00:00Z")
Who know who did a column on this. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4\_193.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_193.html) ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/10 "2000-02-29T21:01:00Z")
What I was wondering was, if _kamikaze_ pilots were going to die in the impact, why wear clothing at all? And why eat that traditional meal of fish, rice, and nuts before taking off? Would they really have time to digest it before death? And I bet some of them brushed their teeth before the mission, which is weird since their teeth wouldn’t have had time to decay significantly, and gingivitis wouldn’t have had time to develop. * * * Any similarity in the above text to an English word or phrase is purely coincidental. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/11 "2000-02-29T21:16:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Boris B: > \*\*why wear clothing at all? \*\* This is generating an irresistible image of the pilot hitting the “Ejection Seat” button at the last second, and hurtling nekkid through the porthole into the Captain’s Mess, thumbing his nose at the U.S. officers, while the plane crashes down onto the flight deck. * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/12 "2000-02-29T21:17:00Z")
And if the pilots are gonna die anyway, why waste a perfectly good plane? I think they should have just rigged a giant slingshot on their ships, loaded in a naked, hungry, dirty pilot and launched him towards the general vicinity of the US Navy. That makes so much more sense than wasting planes. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/13 "2000-02-29T22:26:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Mullinator: > \*\*And if the pilots are gonna die anyway, why waste a perfectly good plane? I think they should have just rigged a giant slingshot on their ships, loaded in a naked, hungry, dirty pilot and launched him towards the general vicinity of the US Navy. > > That makes so much more sense than wasting planes.\*\* Unfortunately a bare pilot doesn’t contain enough explosive power to penetrate the armored deck of a battleship, and only marginal damage of the wooden decks of WWII era carriers, even if he skips the Beano™ at his last meal. ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/14 "2000-02-29T22:27:00Z")
Here’s a better question: Did Kamakazis wear parachutes? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/15 "2000-02-29T23:14:00Z")
Actually, few Japanese aviators wore parachutes. (I’m not sure about bomber crews.) Pilots felt that sitting on the bulky, packed chute with its harness wrapped around the body impaired their ability to fly the plane. Since they adhered to a code of honor that was quite similar to “with your shield or on it,” it was not considered good form to bring along a method of escaping a defeat. I do not have _real_ numbers on the percentage of Japanese pilots who wore chutes, but it was low. (The Japanese command shared the same attitudes, of course, and never invested in the efforts to rescue downed pilots that the U.S. did using Catalinas and submarines, even though (at least early on) their submarines were superior and they did have several good float planes and flying boats.) * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Feelgud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3be4f8/32.png) [@Major\_Feelgud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Feelgud)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/16 "2000-03-01T00:35:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Padeye: > \*\* Unfortunately a bare pilot doesn’t contain enough explosive power to penetrate the armored deck of a battleship, and only marginal damage of the wooden decks of WWII era carriers, even if he skips the Beano™ at his last meal. \*\* Well, how about strapping the naked, dirty, hungry, pilot to a great big bomb and hurling him from a slingshot? Yes, I know, in that case, you won’t need the pilot, just the bomb. I think the food is ritual, just like the last meal of someone to be executed. As for clothing, it doth get cold up there and a shivering pilot is not going to be able to aim his plane at the ship very well. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/17 "2000-03-01T03:00:00Z")
> [@](#): > > And if the pilots are gonna die anyway, why waste a perfectly good plane? I know this was a joke, but they did experiment with a plane especially designed for Kamikaze missions, called Ohka (“cherry blossom”). It was basically a rocket-powered missile with a pilot, launched from a bomber. Found some informaiton at [http://www.ausaviation.com.au/Books\_Pages/Permanent\_Pages/ww2page.htm](http://www.ausaviation.com.au/Books_Pages/Permanent_Pages/ww2page.htm) (it’s near the bottom of the page) and some good pictures at [http://member.nifty.ne.jp/astroboy/japan/ohka.html](http://member.nifty.ne.jp/astroboy/japan/ohka.html) . Interestingly enough, there wasn’t a single Japanese web page about this plane. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/18 "2000-03-01T05:01:00Z")
OK, somebody impress me. Tell me the time and place of the _first_ Kamikaze. DHR ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/19 "2000-03-01T05:46:00Z")
Not too hard to find on the web. The first official Kamikaze mission is usually accepted to be on October 25, 1944 at Samos. Found a good document at [http://www.tcr.org/kamikaze.html](http://www.tcr.org/kamikaze.html) - looks like someone’s college essay, but well researched. I found that date and place mentioned elsewhere as well. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2000, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152/20 "2000-03-02T05:32:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by scr4: > **Not too hard to find on the web. The first official Kamikaze mission is usually accepted to be on October 25, 1944 at Samos. Found a good document at [http://www.tcr.org/kamikaze.html](http://www.tcr.org/kamikaze.html) - looks like someone’s college essay, but well researched. I found that date and place mentioned elsewhere as well.** BWAAAAAPP! Thanks for playing, next contestant! Here’s two hints: (1) “It” was a lot earlier than you might think, and (2) “it” has to do with the _meaning_ of the word “kamikaze”. You can’t answer a riddle with a search engine, mon frer. DHR [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kamakazie/8152.md?page=2)