WWII B&W Photo Japanese MXY7 Ohka Suicide Bomb Cockpit World War Two WW2 / 6113

Description

Japanese MHY7 Ohka Suicide Plane
Cockpit
This is a nice reproduction of an original WW2 photograph showing the cockpit of a  captured Japanese "Ohka" rocket powered suicide plane captured by US forces at Kadena airfield on Okinawa.  A fairly simple cockpit at the aircraft was only expected to make a short, one way flight.   Nice photo with great detail!
Size is about 4" x 6".
The MXY-7 Navy Suicide Attacker Ohka was a manned
flying bomb
that was usually carried underneath a
Mitsubishi G4M
2e "Betty" Model 24J
bomber
to within range of its target. On release, the pilot would first glide towards the target and when close enough he would fire the
Ohka
's three
solid-fuel rockets
, one at a time or in unison,
[4]
and fly the missile towards the ship that he intended to destroy.
The design was conceived by
Ensign
Mitsuo Ohta of the 405th
Kōkūtai
,
[5]
aided by students of the Aeronautical Research Institute at the
University of Tokyo
. Ohta submitted his plans to the Yokosuka research facility. The
Imperial Japanese Navy
decided the idea had merit and Yokosuka
engineers
of the
Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal
(Dai-Ichi Kaigun Koku Gijitsusho, or in short
Kugisho
[6]
) created formal blueprints for what was to be the MXY7. The only variant which saw service was the Model 11, and it was powered by three Type 4 Mark 1 Model 20 rockets. 155 Ohka Model 11s were built at Yokosuka, and another 600 were built at the
Kasumigaura
Naval Air Arsenal.
[4]
The final approach was almost unstoppable because the aircraft gained high speed (650 km/h (400 mph) in level flight and 930 km/h (580 mph) or even 1,000 km/h (620 mph) in a dive). Later versions were designed to be launched from coastal air bases and caves, and even from
submarines
equipped with
aircraft catapults
, although none were actually used in this way. It appears that the operational record of
Ohkas
includes three ships sunk or damaged beyond repair and three other ships with significant damage. Seven US ships were damaged or sunk by
Ohkas
throughout the war. The
USS
Mannert L. Abele
was the first Allied ship to be sunk by Ohka aircraft, near
Okinawa
on 12 April 1945.
[7][8]
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6113