Kamikaze, or “camicase” in Portuguese, were Japanese pilots who flew planes loaded

with explosives on suicide missions against Allied ships during the final moments
of the Pacific campaign in World War II 1. The word “kamikaze” comes from the
Japanese 神風, where “kami” means “god” and “kaze” means “wind”, commonly
translated as “divine wind”.

The official name of the original kamikazes was Tokubetsu Kōgekitai (Special Attack
Unit), also known by the abbreviation Tokkōtai or Tokkō. The navy units were called
Shinpu Tokubetsu Kõgekitai (Divine Wind Special Attack Unit), in reference to
storms that saved Japan from Mongol attack on two occasions (1247 and 1281), so the
suicide pilots would again save Japan from new Mongols: the Americans.

About 3,800 kamikaze pilots died during the war. Kamikaze aircraft were essentially
pilot-guided explosive missiles, purpose-built or converted from conventional
aircraft.
Before the formation of kamikaze units, pilots had made deliberate crashes as a
last resort when their aircraft had suffered severe damage and they did not want to
risk being captured or wanted to do as much damage to the enemy as possible, since
they were crashing anyway. Such situations occurred in both the Axis and Allied air
forces. Axell and Kase see these suicides as "individual, impromptu decisions by
men who were mentally prepared to die".

One example of this may have occurred on 7 December 1941 during the attack on Pearl
Harbor. First Lieutenant Fusata Iida's aircraft had taken a hit and had started
leaking fuel when he apparently used it to make a suicide attack on Naval Air
Station Kaneohe. Before taking off, he had told his men that if his aircraft were
to become badly damaged he would crash it into a "worthy enemy target".[13] Another
possible example occurred at the Battle of Midway when a damaged American bomber
flew at the Akagi's bridge but missed. But in most cases, little evidence exists
that such hits represented more than accidental collisions of the kind that
sometimes happen in intense sea or air battles.[citation needed]

The carrier battles in 1942, particularly Midway, inflicted irreparable damage on

the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS), such that they could no longer put
together a large number of fleet carriers with well-trained aircrews. Japanese
planners had assumed a quick war and lacked comprehensive programs to replace the
losses of ships, pilots, and sailors; and Midway; the Solomon Islands campaign
(1942–1945) and the New Guinea campaign (1942–1945), notably the Battles of Eastern
Solomons (August 1942); and Santa Cruz (October 1942), decimated the IJNAS veteran
aircrews, and replacing their combat experience proved impossible.