Japanese special attack Zero fighter crashing into USS Missouri, off Okinawa, Japan, 11 April 1945

Caption     Japanese special attack Zero fighter crashing into USS Missouri, off Okinawa, Japan, 11 April 1945 ww2dbase
Photographer   
Source    ww2dbaseUnited States Navy Naval History and Heritage Command
Identification Code   NH 62696
More on...   
A6M Zero   Main article  Photos  
Okinawa Campaign   Main article  Photos  Maps  
Tokko "Kamikaze" Special Attack Doctrine   Main article  Photos  Maps  
Missouri   Main article  Photos  
Photo Size 1,881 x 1,521 pixels
Photos on Same Day 11 Apr 1945
Added By C. Peter Chen
Licensing  Public Domain. According to the US Navy Naval History and Heritage Command, as of 21 Jul 2010:
Official government photographs and documents are in the public domain and may be scanned and reproduced in print or online. They may be cropped or resized, but their content may not be altered.
Additionally, according to the United States copyright law (United States Code, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105), in part, "[c]opyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government".

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Colorized By WW2DB     Colorized with Adobe Photoshop



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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Commenter identity confirmed Bill says:
30 May 2010 04:50:01 PM

A kamikaze closing in on the Battleship
U.S.S. Missouri. The fighter would richochet
off the ship, causing minor damage.
The fighter flew in so low, that the guns
could not train on it,but the wingtip of the
Zero made contact and deflected the plane
away into the sea.
If anyone has more information, let me know
or enter it into the database.
2. Commenter identity confirmed Bill says:
30 May 2010 04:57:47 PM

A kamikaze closing in on the Battleship
U.S.S. Missouri. The fighter would richochet
off the ship, causing minor damage.
The fighter flew in so low, you can see the wingtip is about to contact the hull,and the
guns could not train on it, the wingtip of the Zero hit and was deflected away into the sea.
If anyone has more information, let me know
or enter it into the database.
3. Commenter identity confirmed Bill says:
7 Dec 2010 06:56:51 PM

Kamikaze attack against the USS Missouri, on
April 11, 1945, the Zero exploded against the hull, and the 250 kilogram/500 lb bomb failed to detonate.

When the Zero crashed the fuel created a
fireball and parts of the Zero and remains of the pilot were scattered on the deck.

After the attack the remains of the pilot
were buried at sea, with Military honors.

"War is a dirty filthy rotten business, a rotten business".

Bill
4. Commenter identity confirmed Bill says:
3 Jul 2011 08:37:32 PM

The damage by the kamikaze attack is still visible today. Visitors that tour the USS
Missouri, today at Pearl Harbor can still see the dents in the side of the hull, the scorched deck planking, were the zero impacted the ship.

FALLEN WARRIOR:

A plaque describes the attack on that day, April 11,1945. The pilot of the zero was 19 year old Setsuo Ishino, who was later buried at sea with full Military Honors.
5. Commenter identity confirmed Bill says:
28 Jan 2012 08:34:17 PM

WHO CRASHED INTO THE USS MISSOURI:

Could it have been either Petty Officer 2nd Class Kenkichi Ishii or Petty Officer 2nd Class Setsuo Ishino.
The pilots were part of a flight of Sixteen Zero fighters flying from Oklinawa, part of the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps.
It have been one of the pilots listed above, that crashed into the USS Missouri.

Ishino radioed at 2:39pm, that he spotted the U.S. Fleet, and the Missouri was hit by a Kamikaze aircraft at 2:43pm, this would indicate that Ishino hit the Battleship, but at 2:47pm another Zero was shotdown in the same area, is it possible or with certainty that Ishino hit the ship.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ATTACKING ZEROS:

Some of the Zeros didn't reach the Island of
Kikaijima, one Zero crashed into the Destroyer U.S.S. Kidd with 38 men killed and 55 wounded, other planes made attacks against the U.S. Fleet, both Ishii and Ishino
were flying together, so once again, its possible one of them made the attack against the Battleship. However, Ishii never sent a radio message, he could have had radio failure, other pilots never sent any radio messages at all.
6. Anonymous says:
11 Apr 2022 02:38:06 PM

My Dad was on the USS Farenholt when the Kidd was hit and they pulled up beside her and helped put the fires out. He remembered the dead and wounded on the decks. He would not board her on a trip to Baton Rouge.

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