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Blossoms from the Sky by Dan King Firsthand accounts from Kamikaze pilotss who v
Blossoms from the Sky by Dan King
Firsthand accounts from Kamikaze pilots who volunteered to fly the Ohka Baka Bobm
Soft Cover
189 pages
Copyright 2021
CONTENTS
Author's Preface I
AcknowledgmentsIII
Veteran Interviews VI
Glossary VII
The Thundergods Strike 1
Shoichi Ohta2
Give Me 300 Men4
Help from Herr Hitler 6
The Birth of the Ohka8
Hideo Suzuki14
The Birth of the Thundergods19
Goro Nonaka20
The Formosa Air Battle26
The Test28
A New Home31
The White Boxes 34
USS Redfish39
LtCdr Jiro Adachi41
The Bubbling Pot43
Death of the Shinano44
A Parade of VIPs 45
The Orientation Flight 46
Training50
Happy New Year, 194551
The Rebellion 52
The Latecomers57
US Landings58
Young Love59
Masaaki Ajiguchi 59
Shigeo Matsubayashi 60
The Drumbeats of War63
The Teenage Pilots 65
Vice-Admiral Matome Ugaki 67
First Strike69
The Mission74
Blossoms from the Sky75
The Americans 79
Operation Iceberg87
The Mascot88
Photos & Illustrations p.1-p.82
The Kenmu-tai, from Ohka to Zero 89
Okinawa Invaded - Ohka Mission No. 290
The Kenmu Kamikaze Attacks 94
The Photo95
The Ohka Type-2295
The Ohka Type-4396
Sinking of the Yamato, Kenmu No. 3 and No. 496
The USS Missouri and Kenmu No. 598
The Destroyer USS Mannert L. Abele and Ohka No. 3103
Ohka No. 4, Kenmu No. 6108
Death of a Legend 114
The Destroyer USS Gaffey116
The War Correspondents120
Ohka No. 6 121
Kenmu No. 9122
Ohka No. 7 124
Farewell to Our Little Monkey 128
The Destroyer USS Hugh W Hadley and the Pitcher129
Kenmu No. 11136
Ohka No. 9 137
The Ohka and the Frances 140
The Type-43 Ohka's Test Flight 142
Ohka No. 10,Jinrai Bakusen-tai No. 1143
The 725th Naval Air Group 148
Operation Sword150
The Kikka and the Shusui151
Japan's Longest Day154
Ugaki's Final Mission 158
Shoichi Ohta Takes Flight159
After the War161
Mastermind or Patsy 163
Epilogue 166
About the Author168
Bibliography 171
End Notes178
Index 181
Ugaki's Final Mission 158
Shoichi Ohta Takes Flight159
After the War161
Mastermind or Patsy 163
Epilogue 166
About the Author168
Bibliography 171
End Notes178
Index 181
AUTHORS PREFACE
Author's Preface
These are the true stories of the men who designed and flew the Ohka, the bomber crews that ferried them to their targets, their escort pilots, and the American pilots and sailors that fought them off.
Outside of Japan the Kamikaze are called "Suicide Pilots." However, the Japanese do not associate the pilots' acts with the notion of suicide because it implies failure or atonement, and therefore is different than the act of patriotic self-sacrifice. These men were not drunk, hopped up on drugs, locked inside their cockpits, or threatened at gunpoint. They were volunteers.
The idea for this book was hatched in 2010 with an introduction by Jiro Yoshida of the Unabarakai (Yokaren Enlisted Aviators Association) to Akinori Asano, a former Ohka pilot with the 721st Naval Air Group. At the time I was conducting interviews for my first book The Last Zero Fighter, but his experiences were so unique that I decided to do a separate book about the Ohka "Baka Bombs."
Through an introduction by Nobuhiro Nakamura, President of the Kaigun Kurabu (Navy Historical Preservation Society) I met Tadao Kojima who was a crewmember on LtCdr Goro Nonaka's Betty bomber.
Then in 2011 through an introduction by author Yukie Sasa I met Hideo Suzuki, President of the 721st Naval Air Group's Thundergods Veterans Association. He had personal knowledge that he shared freely. I sensed that when he talked about those days his eyes fixated on a spot in space, almost as if in a trance-like state. It all came flooding back to him as if decades had vanished, and the horrific, exciting, terrifying events had only just occurred.
This book simmered on the back burner while I finished up two other projects, A Tomb Called Iwo Jima and The Yalu River Boys. All the while I conducted more research and visited several locations related to the Ohka.
In 2018, through Mr. Nakamura I met two dedicated Japanese historians who taught me much about the technical aspects of the Ohka, Kou Fujiwara and Yoshinari Matsuura.
Thanks to a decade working in Japan I can read, write, and speak Japanese, which helped me overcome the language obstacle that is faced by many. In order to get a better understanding of the Japanese perspective, I tried to get to know our former enemy, what they were taught, how they were trained, and why they were willing to sacrifice their lives. I wanted to hear it from them, and to share it in their own words. This book consists of firsthand interviews, memoirs, NHK video interviews, materials supplied by the Thundergods Veterans Association, and books published in Japanese.
As Will Rogers once said, "I never met a man I didn't like." Whenever I met Japanese veterans, or their surviving family members, I made a promise to share their experiences faithfully with nothing edited out, and nothing added other than contextual information. Mutual respect goes a long way in any language. I am thankful for the trust that they bestowed on me and I vow never to disappoint them.
I will continue to work on my WWII book series for people, like my granddaughter Layla, who will never have the honor of sitting down with a WWII veteran from either side. It is my intention that she someday read these true stories from WWII without interference from political correctness and historical revisionism.
Dan King
April 12, 2021
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