Wings of Defeat: A Teacher's Guide

Comprehensive Unit48 pagesGrade Level: High School – Community CollegeIncludes teacher's guide + 2 films on DVD ("Wings of Defeat" and "Another Journey") Internationally, Kamikaze pilots remain a potent metaphor for fanaticism. In Japan, they are largely revered for their selfless sacrifice. Yet few outside Japan know that hundreds of Kamikaze pilots survived the war. By the spring of 1945, when all Japanese planes were reassigned to Kamikaze attacks, Japan could no longer defend its airspace and its naval fleet was demolished. Old airplanes and inadequate training resulted in many failed Kamikaze missions. When Japan surrendered, hundreds of Kamikaze trainees were awaiting sortie orders that never arrived. Through rare interviews with surviving Kamikaze pilots, we learn that the military demanded pilots to volunteer to give up their lives. Retracing their journeys from teenagers to doomed pilots, a complex history of brutal training and ambivalent sacrifice is revealed. As U.S.