Kamakazi Pilots!!!!!! (Japan)

Just an out and out guess, but I think the communications gear is integrated into the helmet.

The "helmets" they wore were leather, and lined. It gets cold as bloody hell at high altitude, they needed to be alert long enough to crash their aircraft into an enemy vessel. I doubt that the old flying junk heaps they used were in radio communications.

Also for the same reason you don't let the CPU of a guided missile roll around loose during flight: The guidance system (be it brain or CPU) has to be remain intact until it reaches its target.

Kamakazi
I thought it was a stupid question Why would suicide pilots wear protection but you guys actually had some really good answers thanx

That's OK, MonkeyGirl! Welcome to A2K, but we won't do your homework for you - that's what Google is for!

Yes my old high school teacher asked the same question to us.

And even better question might be the one the Kamikazi Squadron commander asked one of his pilots:

Sushi, why you spend soooo much time practicing randings?

Sushi isn't a name, by the way.



(Haven't we had enough about the Japanese confusing rs and ls when they speak English?)

Lighten up, Monger. It is a joke. No insult was intended -- and any taken really is a stretch.

Japanese do not confuse r's and l's, by the way -- they simply have trouble pronouncing them. It is like the difficulties Italians have of using English words without adding a vowel sound to the end of them. I understand the most difficult word in the English language for Japanese speakers of English is rorrypop. (Another joke)

Sushi is the name of an officer of Japanese heritage on the deck of the Starship Enterprise in the latest of the Star Trek incarnations. That is why I used it.

the planes they were flying at that time were not old junk heaps

No offense taken Frank, but considering I've been living in Japan for 16 years I hardly need your lesson on Japanese speech. Japanese confuse rs & ls frequently (mostly due to pronouncing them the same when speaking English). Check out engrish.com & you can prolly find plenty of examples

Sushi is not a Japanese name, there are no Japanese named that ...some people think Sony is a name too.
I've heard people joke about 'Mericans named Hamburger ....calling that an insult would also be a bit of a stretch, but hey whatever, I wasn't trying to make a big deal of this stuff.

you're jap?? now i know this is rather touchy, but how much have the textbooks about your side of ww2 opened up??

It's not a touchy subject for me at all, but I'd rather not digress into politics here.

Monger, one of the best books that I have ever read from the civilian point of view about WWII was Three Came Home by Agnes Keith. It gave both sides of the War in the Pacific. I'm trying to recall the incident about the General who committed Hari Kari when he learned that his family had been wiped out as a result of the A-Bomb.

John Hersey's Hiroshima is excellent, also.

Sorry. Didn't mean to jump in with these asides. Setanta's explanation about the helmuts as protection against the extreme cold, seems plausible to me.