Kugisho MXY7 Ohka (Cherry Blossom) 22

Near the end of World War II, Vice Admiral Onishi Takijiro recommended that the Japanese navy form special groups of men and aircraft to attack the American warships gathering to conduct amphibious landings in the Philippines. The Japanese used the word Tokko-tai (Special Attack) to describe these units. To the Allies, they became known as the kamikaze. By war's end, some 5,000 pilots died making Tokko attacks.The Ohka (Cherry Blossom) Model 22 was designed to allow a pilot with minimal training to drop from a Japanese navy bomber and guide his aircraft with its warhead at high speed into an Allied warship. Plans were afoot in 1944 to adapt a version of the Yokosuka P1Y Ginga (Milky Way, Allied codename FRANCIS, see NASM collection) to carry the Model 22. While several rocket-powered Ohka 11s still exist, this Ohka 22 is the only surviving version powered by a motor-jet, which consisted of a reciprocating engine that pressurized a combustion chamber into which fuel was injected and ignited. Allied forces recovered the Ohka 22 in Japan in 1945. Unlike the Ohka 11, the Ohka 22 never became operational.