David Aiken
2005-05-12 23:45:37 UTC
Aloha All,
One thread is discussing in passing the upgrade of the DSC to the MOH
for George Welch and Ken Taylor based on being in the air DURING the
Pearl Harbor Attack...and even suggesting that they were the only ones
to shoot down anything.
Perhaps we should understand how MANY were airborne and what they did
prior to going off half-cocked with such proposals?
Ah, yes! We had some fighters in the air...a rare few:
Taylor got one VAL on his first flight and shared one VAL with Welch;
then two more on his second but got credit for only two.
Welch claimed two VALs on his first flight, but the first one landed on
its carrier and one was a share with Taylor, and got two planes (one
was a VAL) on his second mission and got credit for four.
John Dains got in the air next and about ten years ago we learned he
shot down a VAL. He was killed on his second flight by Schofield
Barracks fire (ala the scene in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY) as he was trying
to land at nearby Wheeler Field.
Harry Brown and Bob Rogers attacked a VAL, both put in claims but the
plane went down.
Brown joined up with Mike Moore to attack two planes, years later we
find they were Zeros. Both Zeros never returned to their carriers. For
more on this encounter see:
http://www.flightjournal.com/articles/lost_p-36/sterling1.asp
Four P-36s [Lew Sanders, John Thacker, Gordon Sterling, Phil Rasmussen]
got in the air from Wheeler and were vectored to Kaneohe, where they
bounced SIX Zeros! Two MORE Zeros joined the fray! Gordon Sterling was
lost and is STILL MIA. Read more about these four at:
http://www.flightjournal.com/articles/lost_p-36/sterling1.asp
John Webster attacked a pair of fighters with his P-40, but was wounded
for the effort.
George Whiteman got his wheels off the ground just as Zeros hit the
airfield. He crashed at the end of the runway. Whiteman AFB, MO is in
his memory.
Sam Bishop was able to get in the air immediately after Whiteman, with
the attacking Zeros diverted by Whiteman. However, he did not make it
far as the Zeros caught up with him. Wounded he crashed off shore and
waded ashore.
Fred Shifflet made a circle of Pearl Harbor to seek out enemy aircraft,
flew over Hickam Field and was filled with AA fire. He deadsticked the
P-40 back to Wheeler Field to land on flat tires.
William Haney got hit by Pearl Harbor fire on BOTH of his sorties and
had to return to Wheeler each time with a dead engine.
Woodrow Willmot, Aaron Tyer, Francis Gabreski, and Henry Lawrence
avoided Pearl Harbor fire, but never saw the enemy. Gabreski ended WWII
as the highest European Theater of Operations ace.
A sortie of 25 fighter pilots got airborne at 0930 just after Wheeler
was strafed. Names are sought.
Now that we have THESE fighter pilots noted, how many OTHER American
aircraft were airborne DURING the attack?
Well, I outlined above the fighters. Add to that 18 SBDs from USS
Enterprise that flew into war (six were lost, of which ground fire got
one) and a dozen B-17s came in from California...(two were lost).
Then comes the movie TORA-TORA-TORA ...remember the lady instructor
that joined up with a Japanese formation? ...she was depicting SEVERAL
storys combined into one character. There were actually EIGHT light
single engined civilian planes in the air, ALL but one came under
attack...THREE were shot down [of the three, two are still missing].
Also coming from California to arrive during the attack was the PanAm
Clipper ship ANZAC. Fortunately, they got news of the attack as they
neared the Oahu coast and made it to Hilo, Hawaii. The Ambassador to
the US from Burma [and his secretary] was aboard.
At 0620 three PBYs got in the air to do anti-sub searching. One found a
midget sub and helped USS Ward sink it. These were diverted to search
for the Japanese carriers.
At 0700 four PBYs got in the air to do a "problem" with submarine USS
Gudgeon off the island of Lanai. They were diverted to search for the
Japanese carriers...one flew into a Japanese VAL formation for an
air-to-air battle.
At 0915-0930, while USS Nevada was being hit by VALs, a PBY got into
the waters off Ford Island and got airborne down the main channel
toward the entrance with the intent to search for the Japanese
carriers.
PBY pilot Ted Marshall got so mad at the loss of his PBY that he went
to the old Luke Field side of Ford Island and got into a few aircraft
until he found a TBD that operated. He followed and attacked a Japanese
unit until the fuel guage said "return".
A B-18 was on Molokai. The crew were told to "return to their duty
base" at Wheeler. They arrived over Oahu to be fired on by Ft Ruger
fire, then Hickam fire, and landed at Wheeler just after a Japanese
strafing attack.
Within three hundred miles of Oahu, USS Enterprise put up a four plane
combat air patrol, and an inner air patrol of two bombers...then more
planes.
AFTER the attack MORE aircraft got in the air, some got involved with
Japanese aircraft...and MORE Navy Cross medals were given for their
actions.
ATTENTION: the roster above is also given in: Stan Cohen: EAST WIND
RAIN [Missoula, MT: Pictorial Histories Pub; 1981, revised 1991,
corrected 1994, retitled as ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR - A Pictorial
History in 2000] page 97-98
--
One thread is discussing in passing the upgrade of the DSC to the MOH
for George Welch and Ken Taylor based on being in the air DURING the
Pearl Harbor Attack...and even suggesting that they were the only ones
to shoot down anything.
Perhaps we should understand how MANY were airborne and what they did
prior to going off half-cocked with such proposals?
Ah, yes! We had some fighters in the air...a rare few:
Taylor got one VAL on his first flight and shared one VAL with Welch;
then two more on his second but got credit for only two.
Welch claimed two VALs on his first flight, but the first one landed on
its carrier and one was a share with Taylor, and got two planes (one
was a VAL) on his second mission and got credit for four.
John Dains got in the air next and about ten years ago we learned he
shot down a VAL. He was killed on his second flight by Schofield
Barracks fire (ala the scene in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY) as he was trying
to land at nearby Wheeler Field.
Harry Brown and Bob Rogers attacked a VAL, both put in claims but the
plane went down.
Brown joined up with Mike Moore to attack two planes, years later we
find they were Zeros. Both Zeros never returned to their carriers. For
more on this encounter see:
http://www.flightjournal.com/articles/lost_p-36/sterling1.asp
Four P-36s [Lew Sanders, John Thacker, Gordon Sterling, Phil Rasmussen]
got in the air from Wheeler and were vectored to Kaneohe, where they
bounced SIX Zeros! Two MORE Zeros joined the fray! Gordon Sterling was
lost and is STILL MIA. Read more about these four at:
http://www.flightjournal.com/articles/lost_p-36/sterling1.asp
John Webster attacked a pair of fighters with his P-40, but was wounded
for the effort.
George Whiteman got his wheels off the ground just as Zeros hit the
airfield. He crashed at the end of the runway. Whiteman AFB, MO is in
his memory.
Sam Bishop was able to get in the air immediately after Whiteman, with
the attacking Zeros diverted by Whiteman. However, he did not make it
far as the Zeros caught up with him. Wounded he crashed off shore and
waded ashore.
Fred Shifflet made a circle of Pearl Harbor to seek out enemy aircraft,
flew over Hickam Field and was filled with AA fire. He deadsticked the
P-40 back to Wheeler Field to land on flat tires.
William Haney got hit by Pearl Harbor fire on BOTH of his sorties and
had to return to Wheeler each time with a dead engine.
Woodrow Willmot, Aaron Tyer, Francis Gabreski, and Henry Lawrence
avoided Pearl Harbor fire, but never saw the enemy. Gabreski ended WWII
as the highest European Theater of Operations ace.
A sortie of 25 fighter pilots got airborne at 0930 just after Wheeler
was strafed. Names are sought.
Now that we have THESE fighter pilots noted, how many OTHER American
aircraft were airborne DURING the attack?
Well, I outlined above the fighters. Add to that 18 SBDs from USS
Enterprise that flew into war (six were lost, of which ground fire got
one) and a dozen B-17s came in from California...(two were lost).
Then comes the movie TORA-TORA-TORA ...remember the lady instructor
that joined up with a Japanese formation? ...she was depicting SEVERAL
storys combined into one character. There were actually EIGHT light
single engined civilian planes in the air, ALL but one came under
attack...THREE were shot down [of the three, two are still missing].
Also coming from California to arrive during the attack was the PanAm
Clipper ship ANZAC. Fortunately, they got news of the attack as they
neared the Oahu coast and made it to Hilo, Hawaii. The Ambassador to
the US from Burma [and his secretary] was aboard.
At 0620 three PBYs got in the air to do anti-sub searching. One found a
midget sub and helped USS Ward sink it. These were diverted to search
for the Japanese carriers.
At 0700 four PBYs got in the air to do a "problem" with submarine USS
Gudgeon off the island of Lanai. They were diverted to search for the
Japanese carriers...one flew into a Japanese VAL formation for an
air-to-air battle.
At 0915-0930, while USS Nevada was being hit by VALs, a PBY got into
the waters off Ford Island and got airborne down the main channel
toward the entrance with the intent to search for the Japanese
carriers.
PBY pilot Ted Marshall got so mad at the loss of his PBY that he went
to the old Luke Field side of Ford Island and got into a few aircraft
until he found a TBD that operated. He followed and attacked a Japanese
unit until the fuel guage said "return".
A B-18 was on Molokai. The crew were told to "return to their duty
base" at Wheeler. They arrived over Oahu to be fired on by Ft Ruger
fire, then Hickam fire, and landed at Wheeler just after a Japanese
strafing attack.
Within three hundred miles of Oahu, USS Enterprise put up a four plane
combat air patrol, and an inner air patrol of two bombers...then more
planes.
AFTER the attack MORE aircraft got in the air, some got involved with
Japanese aircraft...and MORE Navy Cross medals were given for their
actions.
ATTENTION: the roster above is also given in: Stan Cohen: EAST WIND
RAIN [Missoula, MT: Pictorial Histories Pub; 1981, revised 1991,
corrected 1994, retitled as ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR - A Pictorial
History in 2000] page 97-98
--