Did the Japanese use kamikaze attacks during Pearl Harbor?

by Count_Milimanjaro
the_howling_cow

Purposeful (packing the plane with explosives, stripping it of armament, and flying it into an enemy ship) kamikaze attacks weren't used at Pearl Harbor, and did not occur until much later in World War II, most likely beginning in October, 1944.

However, Japanese pilot Lt. Fusata Iida's plane was critically damaged during the Pearl Harbor attack, and he is reported to have crashed it into Kaneohe Naval Air Station. Before the attack, he had said that if his plane were too damaged to fly, that he would find a "worthy enemy target" and crash into it. Lt. Iida's attack was not a kamikaze mission in that crashing his plane into an enemy at the cost of his life was not the primary objective of his mission.

Sources:

Kamikaze: Japan's Suicide Gods, by Albert Axell and Kase Hideaki

Sanctissima

No, the kamikaze tactic wasn't introduced until much later in the war.