Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka

This Ohka was one of four examples bought back to the UK for evaluation by the Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit at the end of the Second World War.

Facing an increasingly desperate situation, the Japanese began to make use of suicide bomb, or kamikaze, attacks from 1944. The Ohka was a rocket-powered aircraft designed specifically for this purpose. They would be launched from a medium-bomber ‘mother ship’ and used to attack American and British shipping advancing towards the Japanese Home Islands. The Ohka’s small size and high speed made it difficult to intercept, but it was only capable of powered flight for a very short time. Most Kamikaze pilots were aged between 18 and 24.