Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka - Desperation Weapon of the Pacific War

The Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka, meaning “cherry blossom” in Japanese, was a rocket-powered manned weapon developed by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the final stages of World War II. Introduced in 1945, the Ohka was designed specifically as a suicide attack aircraft intended to strike Allied naval vessels with overwhelming speed and explosive force.

The aircraft carried a 2,000-pound warhead mounted directly in the nose ahead of the pilot. Operationally, the Ohka was transported beneath a Mitsubishi G4M “Betty” bomber and released near the target area. Once detached, the pilot ignited the rear-mounted Type 4 Mark 1 Model 20 rocket motors, which could be fired individually or simultaneously. Although the Ohka had an extremely limited range of approximately 23 miles, it was capable of reaching speeds of roughly 400 miles per hour in level flight and up to 680 miles per hour in a terminal dive, making interception difficult once launched.

The Ohka saw combat primarily during the Okinawa campaign in 1945. Of the 74 aircraft committed to operations, 56 were destroyed either with their carrier aircraft or during attack attempts. Allied forces assigned the nickname “Baka” to the Ohka, a Japanese term meaning “foolish,” reflecting both its crude simplicity and the extreme human cost of its use. In total, approximately 852 Ohkas were produced. Today, only about 13 surviving examples are known to exist in museums worldwide.

The model presented here depicts an Ohka captured on Okinawa in April 1945. It is shown unarmed, without its warhead installed, and resting unsecured on its transport cradle and rear support. This configuration reflects how many Ohkas were discovered by Allied forces - as unfinished or unused weapons, emblematic of a program that arrived too late to alter the outcome of the war.

The intent of this build was to present the Ohka not as a curiosity, but as a physical representation of the desperation and industrial collapse facing Japan in 1945 - a weapon defined less by innovation than by circumstance.