Kamikaze

This exhibition features original newsreel footage and a rare example of a Fugi Ohka Kamikaze aircraft. 

Kamikaze (common translation, "divine wind") were suicide attacks by Japanese pilots against Allied shipping, in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War 2.

Kamikaze pilots would attempt to crash their aircraft - often laden with explosives, bombs, torpedoes and full fuel tanks - into Allied ships. The aircraft's normal role was converted to that of a manned missile in a desperate attempt to reap the benefits of greatly increased accuracy and payload over that of a normal bomb. The goal of crippling as many Allied capital ships as possible was considered critical enough to warrant the sacrifice of an aviator and his aircraft.