SUICIDE BOMB

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21756, 4 July 1945, Page 4

SUICIDE BOMB

NEW JAPANESE WEAPON LAUNCHED FROM THE AIR SYDNEY, May 2. The latest weapon used by the Japanese in the Okinawa campaign is iro piloted, rpcket T propelled bomb, launched from a long-range bomber, says the Guam correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. The Americans call the new weapon a “bajea”—a Japanese word meaning a Blockhead or a dunce. 7:~The bombs are built on the sleek lrnSs? of.a .miniature aircraft. They rffe ....greenish grey in colour and painted on , the fuselage is the 'em-b’lemr'-pf ..the Kamikaze (Suicide) -€oips— : the national flower of Japan, the chrysanthemum. The bomb carries a • heavy charge in ihe bombshaped nose.' It has no propeller and no undercarriage. Because of the abnormally high wing.-loading—the wing span is only 16 -feet —the rockets must propel the plane at an enormous speed before it oan>-be manoeuvred. The “bombs” are 19 feet long. -.These one-way suicide machines, constructed of three-ply and light metal's, have not been used in great riqrnbers, ’ and .there. has been little Opportunity to observe their effects in a-)cpmprehensive manner, but so far bakapbombs give no evidence of _ being, ja-.better weapon than the ordinary. Kamikaze plane. There has been rfio 'announcement of the range of the bbirifl,'(but when carried by a longpange flomber.it should have a radius of action .of. more than . 2000 miles.