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Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka: Japan’s Piloted Rocket Weapon

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Description

The Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka was a specialized Japanese attack weapon whose intended flight ended in a collision with an enemy ship. The combat-used Model 11 combined a large explosive charge with a pilot-guided approach, using a carrier bomber to bring it close enough to launch. Its rocket-powered final attack offered speed at the cost of very limited range.

This video concentrates on the design’s practical limitations. Before the small weapon could attack, its slow and conspicuous carrier aircraft had to survive the approach. American defensive fighters and antiaircraft fire therefore threatened the system well before the final dive.

Ohka was used during the closing Pacific campaigns, including the fighting around Okinawa. Museum aircraft and naval records help distinguish operational versions from trainers and projected variants. The history is more informative when it asks what the system could do, what it could not do and what its use demanded of its pilots.

Sources and further reading: Yokosuka MXY7-K1 Ohka

Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka

Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka (Baka Bombs)

Kugisho MXY7 Ohka (Cherry Blossom) 22

Historium research desk

Historical context

Japan’s rocket-powered Ohka depended on a pilot and a vulnerable carrier bomber. Its design and combat record reveal the limits of a weapon built around a one-way mission.

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Transcript

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English (source subtitles)

This transcript follows the video’s narration. The companion article provides dated sources, historical context and editorial corrections.

0:00 World War II saw the creation of some of history's most terrifying
0:04 suicide weapons.
0:06 Developed late in the war to destroy American warships, the Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka
0:11 was essentially a massive, human-guided rocket bomb, rather than
0:18 a traditional aircraft.
0:19 The Japanese named it Ohka, meaning "cherry blossom", but Allied forces gave
0:25 it a much more insulting nickname, the "Baka bomb", Japanese for "idiot".
0:31 By design, the mission was a one-way ticket.
0:34 Once the pilot entered the cockpit, the canopy was bolted shut from
0:38 the outside, making escape impossible.
0:41 The Ohka couldn't take off on its own.
0:44 It was carried beneath a Japanese bomber known as a Betty, and
0:48 released only when the target was in sight.
0:51 After release, the pilot would glide toward the enemy, before igniting three
0:56 rocket engines for the terminal dive.
0:59 In its final phase, the Ohka could exceed 900 kilometers per hour.
1:04 At that speed, it was nearly impossible for World War II-era
1:08 anti-aircraft fire to stop it.
1:10 Carrying a 1,200-kilogram warhead in its nose, it was powerful
1:15 enough to tear a warship apart with a single hit.
1:19 In many ways, the Ohka was a terrifying ancestor to the modern
1:24 guided missile.
1:25 The only difference?
1:27 It was controlled by a pilot sent to die, rather than a
1:31 computer.
1:32 But there was a fatal flaw.
1:34 While the Ohka itself was incredibly fast, the motherships were slow, lumbering
1:40 targets, easy prey for Allied fighters.
1:44 As a result, the Ohka's first major mission was a total disaster.
1:48 All 16 Betty bombers were intercepted and destroyed before they could even
1:54 deploy, costing the lives of hundreds of Japanese soldiers.

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