Table of contents for Pearl Harbor - 75th anniversary in Aviation Classics

“Throughout the entire action, and through all the arduous labours which followed, there was never the slightest sign of faltering or of cowardice. The actions of the officers and men were all wholly commendable; their spirit was marvellous; there was no panic, no shirking nor flinching, and words fail in attempting to describe the truly magnificent display of courage, discipline, and devotion to duty of all officers and men.” Pearl Harbor survivor On December 7, 2016, America and the world will mark the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor with a series of commemorative events focused on those taking place in Hawaii. In the time since the attack, the date has been honoured with various memorials and commemorations to pay tribute to those who were killed that Sunday,…

When Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese Empire in 1941 it was one of the most important military bases in the US – if not the most important. As home port to the 100 vessels of the Pacific Fleet and asizeable base for the army air services, it was crucial for the defence of America’s West Coast. Just 50 years earlier, the islands of Hawaii – home to Pearl Harbor – had been in the midst of a revolution, albeit a relatively peaceful one, which had seen the monarchy overthrown by local authorities, many of whom were either American-born or descended from American business owners who had flocked to the territory earlier in the century in search of riches. The Kingdom of Hawaii As America experienced rapid growth in…

0743 Commander of the Japanese air-attack Mitsuo Fuchida arrives at Pearl Harbor with the first wave of the attack. The force consists of 49 level bombers, 51 dive-bombers, 40 torpedo bombers and 43 fighters. Fuchida orders his telegraph operator to tap out ‘to, to, to’ – the code for attack – followed by ‘to ra, to ra, to ra’ – the code for attack, surprise achieved. Some Japanese pilots read ‘to, ra’ as ‘tora’ which translates as ‘tiger’. 0745 The attack commences as dive-bombers strike the US Army Air Force bases of Wheeler Field – north of Pearl Harbor and Hickam Field on Ford Island. Aircraft have been parked wingtip-to-wingtip in neat rows to guard against sabotage and so are easy targets. 0758 At Ford Island’s Command Center, Commander Logan…

The massive explosion which rocked the Arizona had been caused by a converted naval shell carried by 49 of the Kate level bombers which comprised the first wave. They were Type 91 Model 5 bombs which weighed 1763lb; when dropped from altitude their streamlined design meant they impacted with tremendous force and could penetrate several decks before exploding. The Type 91 was responsible for the sinking of the Arizona, but only that capital ship would be sunk by one of these bombs. The rest would fall victim to a different weapon. Kate bombers launch torpedo attacks As Japanese Vals and Zeros bombed and strafed the various air force installations of Pearl Harbor, B5N2 Kates were dropping their payloads to target Battleship Row. In the first wave, 40 of the aircraft…

USS Utah , AG-16 During the first wave, 16 Kate bombers – armed with torpedoes – approached Ford Island from the north-west which was opposite Battleship Row. While the Japanese knew that aircraft carriers USS Lexington and USS Saratoga were not present, aircraft were still sent to find out whether either had unexpectedly returned and if they hadn’t they could continue round to the south-east where the capital ships were moored and waiting. It was soon confirmed that the carriers were not at present but the bomber crews did spot USS Utah – a former battleship, now auxiliary ship – which was used for target practice and was fitted with antiaircraft training guns. It made no sense for the Kates to hit the Utah, but two crews…

As Japan drew its Pearl Harbor offensive to a conclusion, the military forces and residents on Oahu were left in a state of confusion and shock. Medical personnel desperately tried to help wounded sailors and civilians, often having to prioritise those who had a chance of survival over individuals whose injuries were too severe. On what was meant to be a calm and quiet Sunday morning, the cold and hard brutality of war had descended on Hawaii and the body count began to pile up. In makeshift hospitals and operating theatres, doctors and nurses marked the foreheads of patients to denote their condition – C, critically injured; F, fatally wounded; M, morphine administered. When the felt tip pens ran out, nurses resorted to using lipstick. In the water, sailors became…

It would take until the 1980s before a full investigation into internment was launched, and it eventually concluded that the detention of Japanese-American citizens was not driven by military conditions but by discrimination, war hysteria and political failings. At the end of the decade, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which awarded $20,000 to each surviving detainee – the total reparations amounting to $1.2 billion. On the 50th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1991, President George H W Bush issued a direct executive apology by stating: “In remembering, it is important to come to grips with the past. No nation can fully understand itself or find its place in the world if it does not look with clear eyes at all the glories and…

While European leaders Hitler, Mussolini and Franco were dismantling the peace in Europe, the domination of the Japanese empire in Asia meant America faced the escalating threat of conflict from across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. As in Europe, the rise of nationalism and militarism in Japan was driven by the economic turmoil experienced during the 1920s as a result of post-First World War decline and then later the Wall Street Crash. Japan’s strength lay in its status as a manufacturing and industrial power, but that meant it required huge quantities of raw materials which it simply did not possess. It therefore became dependent on the western nations as its suppliers – most notably America – with whom its own ideals and values clashed. As a result, Japan’s military…

Five days before the final order for the attack was given – and 11 before it commenced – Japan’s Kido Butai carrier battle group left the northern coast of the country and embarked on a journey to a position northwest of Hawaii ready for its combination of aircraft to launch against Pearl Harbor. Despite what now seems like the obvious conclusion of US entry into the Second World War, all the evidence suggests that it was never the intention of this extensive Japanese force to draw America into all-out conflict in the Pacific – in fact, it was quite the opposite. Without access to US oil and materials – and without comfortable military control over resource-rich areas of Asia – there was no way Japan could sustain a successful global…

It was shortly before 8am on Sunday, December 7 – just as preparations were being made for the eight o’clock raising of the colours – when the Japanese attack against Pearl Harbor began. Warnings of a Japanese offensive had been issued in the preceding weeks and months but few expected it to take place in Hawaii. Some 183 planes comprised the first wave and among them were 51 Aichi D3A Val dive-bombers of the attack group number two and 43 Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighters of attack group three whose primary targets were aircraft of both the US Army and Navy. The initial attack also included 89 Nakajima B5N2 Kate bombers but, while some did drop loads on the airfields, during the first wave the primary target for these crews was…

As dive-bombers and fighters inflicted massive damage on US Army and Navy air forces, the 89 Nakajima B5N2 Kate aircraft which were part of the first wave launched attacks against the ships of the Pacific Fleet. With no US aircraft carriers in Pearl Harbor on December 7, the main targets were the eight battleships which were stationed there and among them was the USS Arizona which had been a prized asset of the expanding US Navy for more than 25 years. A brief history On March 16, 1914, the New York Navy Yard laid down the keel to begin construction of battleship 39 – later named the USS Arizona. The Pennsylvania-class vessel was a continuation of American naval policy to build one of the world’s greatest seafaring forces and was…

A photo taken from a Japanese aircraft shows smoke rising from the airfields of Pearl Harbor as the torpedoes and bombs start to drop on Battleship Row. Ripples in the water suggest that payloads are either on their way or may have just impacted, and what looks like an oil slick coming from USS West Virginia indicates that she might already have been hit. For the next hour-and-a-half these seven vessels would come under continuous and fierce attack from bombers and dive-bombers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and within just a few short minutes of this image being taken the skies around would be cast under the shadow of thick black smoke billowing from mangled wrecks of metal, fuel and oil.…

As fighting spread across the Pacific, the Doolittle Raid – although causing negligible damage – decisively demonstrated that there would be no negotiated peace between Japan and America; and the US committed itself to achieving an unconditional surrender from Emperor Hirohito. In response, Japan developed a ‘defensive belt’ strategy which would see it line-up a series of territories across the Pacific in order to form a barrier against any Allied offensives, and also cut off supply lines between the US and Australia. Believing that the Doolittle Raid had been launched from somewhere on Midway Island, Yamamoto also intended to invade the 2.4 square mile atoll and thereby prevent any chance of a repeated American strike against the main Japanese homeland. As a precursor, an operation was launched to take the…

Against the backdrop of Franklin D Roosevelt’s memorable speech to a joint session of Congress, the United States formally declared war on the Japanese Empire on December 8, 1941 – a direct response to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Not yet 200 years old as a nation, America was now embroiled in the Second World War. It was no stranger to this kind of mass conflict however; in its relatively short history the US had endured the War of Independence, a civil war, involvement in the First World War and several confrontations with European and South American forces as it expanded and established its territory to the west coast and beyond throughout the 19th century. Despite this familiarity with military engagements, it wasn’t until the attack on Pearl Harbor that…

America was founded on a tradition of sailing and seafaring activities and the early colonies consisted of large communities of sailors and shipbuilding industries. It’s ‘Old Navy’ – that which existed from the start of the Revolutionary War through to the shortly after the American Civil War – played a crucial role in the eventual establishment of independence, but as the 1800s came towards a close it was clear that the US Navy was no longer fit for purpose and was in desperate need of immediate modernisation. In 1882, Navy Secretary William H Hunt requested funds from Congress for the building of modern vessels and, after some initial wrangling, he was authorised to oversee the construction of three protected cruisers – USS Chicago, USS Boston and USS Atlanta. This was…

Ensign Jim D Miller, US Navy I had gotten up at about 0745, and had started to dress when a short air raid alarm sounded. The Arizona’s air raid alarm consisted of the sounding of three blasts of a warning howler over the general announcing system. What I heard was only one short blast as though someone had accidentally touched the switch. I felt one explosion near the ship which seemed to me like a no-load shot on No 2 Catapult. However it was followed by two more explosions, and I decided it was not a no-load shot, but of course had no idea just what the explosions were. Then the word was passed to set Condition ZED below the third deck. I slipped on a uniform and started to…

3: USS Oklahoma Nevada-class battleship BB-37 OUTCOME Being positioned outboard of USS Maryland, Oklahoma bore the brunt of Japanese torpedo attacks and was hit by several on her port side. The ship was ripped open and as water poured in she rolled over and sank to the bottom of the harbour. Many of the men trapped in her upturned hull were cut free, but the sinking still resulted in the loss of more than 400 crewmen. In 1943, Oklahoma was salvaged, patched up and refloated, but she was deemed too old and damaged to return to service and was formally decommissioned. On her way to be scrapped after the Second World War, Oklahoma sank while under tow from Hawaii to California. CREW LOST: 429 0750 The crew of Oklahoma…

By 1945, despite the booming wartime economy, many American citizens still lived in poverty. Discrimination and institutional racism were still prevalent also, and despite its democratic and inclusive narrative America was fractured by division. As euphoric celebrations welcomed US victory and a wave of patriotism swept the nation after the Pacific War, the fate of more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans who had been left destitute by a systematic and government-backed programme to exclude them from US society was widely ignored. Under the pressure of conflict, the mass hysteria which surrounded the war effort had escalated into their forced internment in the months following the Pearl Harbor attack – removed on the basis they posed a potential security threat to the US military campaign. People were taken from homes, farms, schools, jobs…