Museum receives piece of mystery kamikaze bomber

BY ATSUSHI TAKAHARA, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

CHIKUZEN, Fukuoka Prefecture--Little has been known about the Sakura-dan Ki (Cherry blossom bomber), an aircraft used in kamikaze missions during Japan's desperate last days of World War II.

Only nine of the bombers were built, and their fates remain largely unknown except for one. That bomber crash-landed in April 1945 near the former Imperial Japanese Army's Tachiarai airfield, which straddles present-day Chikuzen and other municipalities.

The main wing flap of that bomber, believed to be the only existing piece of the aircraft, will be displayed at a peace museum that opens next year in this town.

The piece was donated by writer Eidai Hayashi to Chikuzen in February.

Hayashi, 74, who has written about wartime suicide attack units, obtained the duralumin flap from a local resident who had kept it.

Hayashi said the flap should be preserved at a location associated with the bomber "so that it will help people keep asking about the meaning of peace."

Two Sakura-dan bombers are said to have flown from the Tachiarai airfield on suicide missions. The airfield had flight training schools of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy.

The town welcomed the Sakura-dan flap, saying it will make a "precious exhibit" at the peace memorial hall it plans to open in autumn 2009.

"Many local children don't even know that the town used to host an Imperial Japanese Army airfield," said Tsutomu Yano, a senior Chikuzen official, after receiving the flap. "We want young generations to understand about the miseries of war and the preciousness of peace."

The museum will also display Japan's zero fighters used for kamikaze missions and photos of pilots who died in Sakura-dan attacks.

Records only show that some of the nine bombers joined kamikaze missions in Okinawa Prefecture.

The Sakura-dan aircraft was a remodeled version of the Imperial Japanese Army's heavy bomber Hiryu, according to the National Institute for Defense Studies.

But there are few other details known about the Sakura-dan's design.

"Although they are famous bombers, no details are available," said an official at the institute.

Ryutaro Hanamichi, who had been scheduled to ride on a Sakura-dan bomber for a kamikaze attack, offered this information about the aircraft: It was riddled with defects.

For example, part of the frame was made with plywood to reduce weight because the aircraft was loaded with a 3-ton special bomb on top, said Hanamichi, 82, who joined Hayashi in Chikuzen on Feb. 29 from Wakayama Prefecture.

"I don't want any more wars," Hanamichi said. "I hope the museum and its exhibits will hand down the fading memories of the suicide attack units to posterity."(IHT/Asahi: March 28,2008)