- 23 Sep 2005
- 1,295
- 76
sabro said:I still think they would have done far more damage if used as conventional attack planes that as disposable one-use missles. One plane has the potential of taking out several other planes, ground targets and ships where a single Kamikaze has an iffy chance of damaging something only once.
The kamikaze pilot attacks were much more directed at the american navy than anything else though as far as i am aware, the planes would be stacked up to the brim with cheap but deadly explosives so when the plane hit the huge battle ship it would inflict enough damage in one go to make it sink and inflict serious loses of life.
The problem with just dropping missiles on ships is that it is not very accurate and you may have to be there some time before you inflict enough damage on the ship to make it sink, during which time while you are going back and forth trying to bomb the ship you are getting shot at like a sitting duck in water.
I think the kamikaze pilots were actually more cost effective and damaging to the navy ships than the bog standard bomber/fighter pilots, which is why they lasted so long and were so directed at the navy- the normal bomber/fighter pilots were far more effective on smaller targets like ground solidiers and troops or standing targets like buildings etc.