PC/WI: Japanese J8M's (Me 163 "Komets") used as Kamikaze aircraft?

WILDGEESE

Gone Fishin'
The Messerschmidt Me 163 Komet was licensed produced in Japan, but only 7 or so were produced before the end of the war.

What if Japan could have put the Komet into full scale production and instead of having 2 Mk 180 cannons in the nose, it was armed with an equal weight of high explosive and used as a "Kamikaze" aircraft to attack Allied shipping?

How would these perform compared to their normal inventory of aircraft?

Would the incredible speed of the Komets allow it to strike Allied shipping without getting caught by RN/USN CAP's?

Would they have got a better strike rate against shipping than the 8.5% reportedly given by the USN?

Regards filers
 
Guidance system quality would be the problem. Japanese Army and Naval air forces could not provide the necessarily high quality guidance & the failure rate would neutralized the weapon.

To put it another way; the Komet required a fairly well trained pilot to stay in the air. Japan had a clear shortage of those in 1945.
 
The Komet was also very short ranged. A lot that were flown by a skilled pilot, and got close enough to make an attack run, would get through, but not many would meet those criteria.
 
What if Japan could have put the Komet into full scale production and instead of having 2 Mk 180 cannons in the nose, it was armed with an equal weight of high explosive and used as a "Kamikaze" aircraft to attack Allied shipping?
What are Mk 180 cannons? The actual armament weight would be 250 lbs. Not much explosive. Not much range unless carried or towed airborne, and then the weight of the landing skid could be transformed into more explosives. They already had a Kamikaze rocket bomb, the Ohka, with a lot bigger bang, and the time between the unsuccessful first flight and the big bang doesn't leave much time for development and production, let alone training.
 
guys who could hardly fly Vals with a few hours of training would have no chance with a Comet, that killed skilled Nazi pilots
 
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