Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka

The Ohka (meaning Cherry blossom) was the Japanese response to an increasingly desperate situation. This tiny rocket-powered projectile was designed as a suicide plane for Japanese Kamikaze pilots to fly into Allied ships.

Codenamed 'Baka' by the Allies, the Ohka was intended to be air launched 50 miles from its target by a Mitsubishi G4M2e 'Betty' bomber. Once released by the bomber, it would hold a fast glide at about 290mph until the pilot ignited the engine and entered a steep dive onto its target.

Luckily, few found their targets, but those that did wrought appalling havoc with their 1,200kg warheads. Their main achilles heel was the 'mother' aircraft, which was slow and vulnerable to Allied fighters - the first time they were used, in the last year of World War II, all 16 Ohka-carrying 'Bettys' were shot down and the suicide planes released well short of their targets.

The aircraft on display in Cosford was captured intact by US forces on the Japanese island of Okinawa in 1945 and, along with the Mitsubishi Ki 46 Dinah, is one of the last survivors of a batch of aircraft brought to the UK after the war. It was later restored to its current condition.