Quote:
|
Originally Posted by scrag
...
As far as the first attack from a Kamikaze dedicated A/C was 27 Oct 1944 on an Australian CA. Nov 1944 was the first attack by a Kaiten. There were a number of incidents of wounded pilots flying there critically hit A/C into targets of opportunity.
|
Actually:
21 Oct44 Two planes with volunteers flew from the Philippines to attack US carriers. According to eyewitness [per wikipedia] accounts, the first Allied ship to be hit by a kamikaze attack was the flagship of the Royal Australian Navy, the large heavy cruiser HMAS
Australia on October
21 1944. The attack appears to have been
spontaneous and was carried out by an unknown pilot who was
not a member of Onishi's Special Attack Unit [kamikaze). The pilot was most likely an Imperial Japanese Army Air Force aviator from the 6th Flying Brigade, in a Misubishi Ki-51.
23-26 Oct44. Off Leyte, 55 Kamikaze pilots, in the first planned mass suicide attacks of the war, coordinated with the IJN attack on Leyte Gulf, hit the escort carriers and sank the St. Lo (CVE-63) and damaged the large escorts Sangamon (CVE-26), Suwannee (CVE-27), Santee (CVE-29), and small escorts White Plains, Kalinin Bay, and Kitkun Bay. In all, 7 carriers were hit and 40 other types damaged; five ships were sunk, 23 heavily damaged, and 12 moderate damage.