<P> Late in 1944 the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) used the good high - altitude performance of their Supermarine Seafires (naval version of the Spitfire) on combat air patrol duties . Seafires were heavily involved in countering the kamikaze attacks during the Iwo Jima landings and beyond . The Seafires' best day was 15 August 1945, shooting down eight attacking aircraft for a single loss . </P> <P> Allied pilots were experienced and better - trained, and flew superior aircraft, making the poorly trained kamikaze pilots easy targets . The U.S. Fast Carrier Task Force alone could bring over 1,000 fighter aircraft into play . Allied pilots became adept at destroying enemy aircraft before they struck ships . </P> <P> Allied gunners had begun to develop techniques to negate kamikaze attacks . Light rapid fire anti-aircraft weapons such as the 40 mm Bofors and 20 mm Oerlikon autocannons were highly effective, but heavy anti-aircraft guns such as the 5 "/ 38 caliber gun (127 mm) had the punch to blow kamikazes out of the air, which was preferable since even a heavily damaged kamikaze could complete its mission . The Ohkas with their high speed presented a very difficult problem for anti-aircraft fire, since their velocity made fire control extremely difficult . By 1945, large numbers of anti-aircraft shells with radio frequency proximity fuzes, on average seven times more effective than regular shells, became available, and the USN recommended their use against kamikaze attacks . </P> <P> The peak in kamikaze attacks came during the period of April--June 1945, at the Battle of Okinawa . On 6 April 1945, waves of aircraft made hundreds of attacks in Operation Kikusui ("floating chrysanthemums"). At Okinawa, kamikaze attacks focused at first on Allied destroyers on picket duty, and then on the carriers in the middle of the fleet . Suicide attacks by planes or boats at Okinawa sank or put out of action at least 30 U.S. warships, and at least three U.S. merchant ships, along with some from other Allied forces . The attacks expended 1,465 planes . Many warships of all classes were damaged, some severely, but no aircraft carriers, battleships or cruisers were sunk by kamikaze at Okinawa . Most of the ships lost were destroyers or smaller vessels, especially those on picket duty . The destroyer USS Laffey earned the nickname "The Ship That Would Not Die" after surviving six kamikaze attacks and four bomb hits during this battle . So many destroyers were attacked that one ship's crew, considering the aircraft carriers to be more important targets, erected a large sign with an arrow which read "That way to the carriers". </P>

How did the japanese ensure they had enough kamikaze pilots