Came across reference to Kamikaze-go in my current book, Japan 1941 Countdown to Infamy, by Eri Hotta. The Original Kamikaze: 6–9 April 1937: Kamikaze-gō, a prototype of the Mitsubishi Ki-15 Karigane single-engine reconnaissance airplane, was flown by Masaaki Iinuma and Kenji Tsukagoshi from Tokyo to London in 94 hours, 17 minutes, 56 seconds total elapsed time. The actual time in flight was 51 hours, 17 minutes, 23 seconds, which was a new record for the route. The two pilots covered a distance of 15,357 kilometers (9,542.4 miles). Kamikaze-gō was the second prototype Ki-15. It had been purchased by the Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, and was registered J-BAAI. It was painted silver with medium blue trim. The airplane was flown to London for the coronation of George VI. Iinuma and Tsukagoshi departed Tachikawa Airfield at 2:12:04 p.m., 6 April 1937. The route of the flight was Tokyo to Taipei and on to Hanoi, Vientiane, Calcutta, Karachi, Basra, Baghdad, Athens, Rome, Paris, and finally, London. The Mitsubishi prototype arrived at Croydon Aerodrome, London, at 3;30 p.m., 9 April. After returning to Japan, Kamikaze-gō continued in service to its owners, until returning from China, it encountered bad weather and crash landed on Taiwan. the airplane was recovered then placed on display at the Ashai Shimbun headquarters in Tokyo. During a bombing raid in 1944, the building was hit and the airplane was destroyed. After the Tokyo-to-London flight, Masaaki Iinuma and Kenji Tsukagoshi became national heroes. Iinuma was killed when he accidentally walked into a turning airplane propeller at Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 11 December 1941. Tsukagoshi disappeared while on a flight over the Indian Ocean in 1943. Asahi Shimbun bought a second Ki-15, registered J-BAAL. Several of the production airplanes were used by Japanese companies as courier or mail planes. The initial production version, the Ki-15-I (Army Type 97) also had a crew of two. It was a single-engine, low-wing monoplane with fixed landing gear. It was 8.7 meters (28 feet, 6.5 inches) long with a wingspan of 12.0 meters (39 feet, 4.5 inches) and overall height of 3.35 meters (11 feet). Its empty weight was 1,400 kilograms (3,086 pounds) and maximum takeoff weight was 2,300 kilograms (5,071 pounds). The Ki-15-I was powered by an air-cooled Nakajima Ha-8 nine-cylinder radial engine which produced 640 horsepower. This gave the Ki-15 a maximum speed of 480 kilometers per hour (298 miles per hour) at 4,000 meters (13,125 feet), and a cruise speed of 320 kilometers per hour (199 miles per hour) at 5,000 meters (16,404 feet). Its range was 2,400 kilometers (1,491 miles) and the service ceiling was 11,400 meters (37,400 feet). The Mitsubishi Ki-15 was produced from 1936 to 1945. Approximately 500 of all types were built. Zero in on the Source Note: The public release on the original flight boasted the aircraft was constructed and flown using only Japanese materials. In reality it was fabricated with some foreign materials, used imported fuel and one of the pilots was half British.
Always an interesting aircraft...One of the very few to make the crossover between the IJAAF & IJNAF. The IJNAF version was the C5M1 & C5M2.
Political Strategy Prior to the Outbreak of War This a series of five monographs dealing with Japan's political and military strategy from the time of the Manchurian Incident to the outbreak of the Pacific War. The information contained herein was compiled by Rear Admiral Sadatoshi Tomioka, former Chief of Operational Section, Imperial General Headquarters, from official documents as well as from private records. Political Strategy Prior to the Outbreak of War, Part I 144 Political Strategy Prior to the Outbreak of War, Part II 146 Political Strategy Prior to the Outbreak of War, Part III 147 Political Strategy Prior to the Outbreak of War, Part IV 150 Political Strategy Prior to the Outbreak of War, Part V 152
Hotta goes into the political and economic background that led up to the decision to go to war with the US. There was much dissent about that choice, but the Japanese leadership painted itself into a corner and let junior bureaucrats lead them into war. I recall that much the same decision making (or lack thereof) led them into the debacle in China. Sorry for hijacking this thread, but mention if Hotta's book was enough to set me off.
No, but I'll put it on my ever-growing list. Edit: I just ordered it from Amazon. I noticed that you were the only reviewer. Interesting.
