Life of a Kamikaze Pilot

The life of a kamikaze pilot could be relatively short if a soldier is called into duty, sometimes their first flight is their last. Don't miss today's epic new video to check out the most dangerous job in the Japanese military: The Kamikaze Pilot!

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[Zoologically_Explained]

Kamikaze pilot instructer: pay attention kids I’m only gonna do this once

[ives]

"War does not determine who is right, only who is left." - Bertrand Russell

[exKGBagent]

"If you run out of the ammo, you are the ammo."
~Emperor Hirohito

[manuelvalentin]

A movie that depicts this theme is 'Assault In The Pacific: Kamikaze'. It shows the training and emotions of a Kamikaze squadron, all the way up to their final, hopeless, mission. The ending is a true tearjerker.

[strange_and_magnificent]

I greatly admire the words Kiyoshi wrote to his sensei because they're true.

[therenegade]

“Some of you may die but that is a sacrifice i'm willing to make”
-Emperor Hirohito, probably

[waceyseufer]

They were actually encouraged to think of their mother's face while flying.

[stefanjohansson]

You’re missing the vital part of the drugs every pilot took to shut off the feelings.

[hoffenwurdig]

Senninbari, the sacred Shinto belts with a thousand stitches, are good-luck amulets in Shintoism. Senninbari were often given to the kamikaze, and also sent in “comfort bags” to ordinary WW2 Japanese soldiers in the field. I noticed that in this video, there is no mention of senninbari or of the kamikaze pilots' ceremonial last drink of rice wine.

[borkbread]

I can’t imagine having to sacrifice myself for glory

[robwebster]

It be the job you only do once, but you do it for the rest of your life

[ives]

"Only the dead have seen the end of the war." - George Santayana

[LoveHandle]

With a name like that, you can only expect the craziest people to be in that field.

[tymartin]

Very nicely done. And as ex military, I'd give my life for my brother next to me NOT some clown riding a white horse.

[afrikasmith]

This video got me thinking about an anime called "The Cockpit". It also shows an accurate description of what some of those Japanese Imperial soldiers might have felt before they died destroying US ships. It's a great anime.

[bloodherz]

2:41 Frankly this is typical eastern and southern Chinese music which used a lot of five-note-scale (12356). If I remember correctly, Japanese scales mostly use (13467) instead.

[Red_]

Additional points.

If a Kamikaze made the flight but couldn't hit the target due to bad weather or cloud cover or mechanical problems he was allowed to return. The Japanese didn't want to "waste" the kamikaze. Now if you were the only one left or if you had returned 2-3-4 times that's another story...

Pilots were giving a cup of sake to calm their nerves prior. Potentially other drugs as well so that they would not lose their nerve.

[stormbringer]

This man was a lot like a bee, they simply didn’t teach them how to come back after attacking

[nickdarr]

One kamikazee flew out and returned from 9 missions. He was executed the 9th time but it was possible to get away with some shenanigans

[bromixsr]

I've never read anything about the best kamikaze pilots, but I did come across an article about the worst. They say he flew over 30 missions, and complained the whole time.