"HOW unbearable to die in the sky," wrote Tadao Hayashi, a student pilot, in his diary on July 27th 1945, the night before his plane was shot down. Hayashi's writings, like those of the other Japanese student soldiers compiled in this book, contradict the caricature of the fanatical kamikaze pilot imagined by Americans and Britons during the war, and challenge the myth of the nationalist hero spun by conservative institutions in Japan.

The student soldiers, argues the author, were wantonly sacrificed in the military government's final gambit of the war. She reveals that the tokkotai ("special attack force", which is how the kamikaze are referred to in Japan) had no volunteers when it was formed in October 1944. Instead, new recruits were either assigned by their superiors or forced to sign up using pressure tactics. No senior officer offered his life for this mission; instead the "volunteer" corps comprised newly enlisted boy-soldiers barely of age and student conscripts from the nation's top universities.

http://www.economist.com/node/7138833?fsrc=scn/fb/te/bl/ed/propatriamori

Perhaps true for some of them, but I just read a book by a Kaiten (suicide submarine) pilot and he and his fellow pilots of that device were enthusiastic to die for the emperor.

Some of the worst damage inflicted on USN ships were by pilots, either badly wounded or with badly damaged aircraft, who decided to crash their planes into a target rather than into the sea long before there were true Kamikaze's.

Hornet at Santa Cruz?

So I am at work right now and unable to pull up sources, but from what I recall (either a documentary or some article or book I read) the few professional and experienced pilots left alive by 1944 did not volunteer for the kamikaze missions. As stated previously most of the kamikaze pilots were young barely trained volunteers. One bit I remember from a survivor who was in a special squadron but never flew due to mechanical issues was they were offered three choices for kamikaze missions. I eagerly volunteer, I volunteer, or I do not volunteer. The peer pressure these young men were put under to volunteer as well as their cultural upbringing and adherence to duty led to many "willing" to volunteer. One survivior remembers he stated that he did not volunteer and was surprised the next morning to hear his name called for an upcoming mission. He meekly went along to his mission prep and to the runway and was saved by a crappy plane not starting.
I think their true impact upon the allies was in the nerves and morale of allied soldiers and sailors. And it also not th Japanese in the ass. Their willingness to sacrifice themselves to kill on more solider or marine, or sink one more ship wore these men down. A boning raid on your ship is bad enough because a conventional bomb or torpedo is tricky and many factors can go into it missing the intended target. A person, who is trying their all to crash their fuel and bomb laden fighter into the hull of your ship is truly a determined force. He can make corrections and has a far greater chance of hitting if the AA or fighter cover is off. Now this in turn led basically all Allied troops to never trust the Japanese and take no prisoners for the most part, which in turn fuses the Japanese to fight harder and to death since they knew they were not likely to be allowed to surrender.

From personal experience, after serving in combat in Iraq the suicide bombers were th absolute worst. Walking though villages or what have you and looking at people who you had no idea if they were strapped with explosives. Doing TCPs and stopping cars you had no idea if a car was filled with bombs and was looking for a target of opportunity. Give me small arms fire any day compared to that mentality. I had body armor and could get behind cover and was good to go.

"You outa you f&*king mind????"