Motoharu Okamura
Motoharu Okamura | |
---|---|
Born | 1901 |
Died | 13 July 1948 (aged 46-47) |
Allegiance | ![]() Captain |
Commands held | Air Group 3 Air Group 302 Air Group 502 Gonoike Air Group Air Group 341 Air Group 721 |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Motoharu Okamura (岡村 基春, Okamura Motoharu, 1901 – 13 July 1948) was a Japanese
Career
In June 1934, Lt. Okamura was flight testing the second prototype of two Mitsubishi 1MF10 Experimental 7-Shi carrier fighters when it entered an irrecoverable flat spin. Okamura bailed out, but lost four fingers in the accident, jeopardizing his career as a fighter pilot.[1]
During the Kuangda campaign in China in 1938, Okamura served as a flight leader in the 12th Air Group's fighter squadron, where he was renowned for developing new air tactics for the Navy and was noted as an expert aviator and trainer. He had formed an air demonstration team known as "Genda's Flying Circus" with Yoshita Kobayashi and Minoru Genda, using Nakajima A2N Type 90 fighters, at Yokosuka in 1932.[2]
Captain Okamura was in charge of the Tateyama Base in Tokyo, as well as the 341st Air Group Home, and, according to some sources, was the first officer to officially propose what would become known as kamikaze attack tactics, by arranging with his superiors for the first investigations on the plausibility and mechanisms of intentional suicide attacks on 15 June 1944. He was a veteran fighter pilot, who instructed the Yokosuka Air Corps at the war's outbreak. He also commanded a fighter group under Vice Admiral Kimpei Teraoka.[3]
Okamura had expressed his desire to lead a volunteer group of suicide attacks some four months before Admiral
"In August of 1944 the Naval Air Research and Development Center instituted an emergency development program of special piloted glide bombs, which bore the first character of
As commander of the new kamikaze unit in 1944, Captain Okamura commented that "there were so many volunteers for suicide missions that he referred to them as a swarm of bees," explaining: "Bees die after they have stung."[6]
After the war, Okamura shot himself in the face as penance for sending so many young men to their deaths.[3]
Personal life
Okamura remarried after his first wife died. He had several children.[7] His brother-in-law was fellow IJN officer and aviator Takashige Egusa, who was noted for being the Air Group Commander of aircraft carrier Soryu during the Pearl Harbor attack through the ship's loss at the Battle of Midway.
Promotions
- Midshipman - 1 June 1922
- Ensign - 20 September 1923
- Lieutenant (j.g.) - 1 December 1925
- Lieutenant - 1 December 1927
- Lieutenant Commander - 15 November 1934
- Commander - 15 November 1939
- Captain - 1 May 1944
References
- ISBN 1-55750-563-2.
- ISBN 0-8117-3330-0, pages 132-133.
- ^ a b "Father of the Kamikaze Liner Notes | AnimEigo".
- ^ Inoguchi, Rikihei, The Divine Wind, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1958, page 139.
- ISBN 0-7434-7939-4, page 149.
- ISBN 0-582-77232-X. p.35
- ISBN 0-8117-3330-0, page 137.