12/7/2006 - HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFPN) -- At 7:55 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, an Imperial Japanese Naval Task Force under the command of Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, launched the biggest surprise attack in history. Japanese aircraft struck military installations on Oahu and in less then two hours inflicted the worst destruction the Army Air Forces ever received.
While Pearl Harbor's battleships represented American strategic reach and had to be eliminated to safeguard Japan's offensive into the Pacific, Oahu's aircraft had to be taken out for more immediate reasons: to protect the Japanese attack force. If U.S. fighters could get into the air in any numbers they would be a serious threat to Japanese bombers.
The Japanese knew exactly where Hickam Field was, they also knew where Wheeler Army Air Field and Bellows Field were located because land based aircraft on Oahu were priority targets. The Japanese intended to destroy as many American aircraft as possible not only to eliminate air opposition but also to preclude US planes from following their aircraft back to their carriers.
The Japanese aircraft took Wheeler, the principal fighter base, by surprise. The dive bombers lined up on the hangers releasing their bombs scoring direct hits on Hangars 1 and 3 and additional building in the area. One bomb struck the 6th Pursuit Squadron barracks completely destroying it. After completing the bomb runs they began their strafing runs on the aircraft that were parked wingtip to wingtip. With thick smoke covering the area, from the air, it appeared that the Japanese had severely damaged the base and destroyed all the aircraft on the ground.
The wave of enemy planes that attacked Hickam scored direct hits on the Hawaiian Air Depot's engineering building, and the hanger area where A-20, B-18 and B-17 bombers were parked wingtip to wingtip. Direct hits on Hanger 11, killed nearly all of the 11th Bomb Group's armament and aircraft maintenance technicians, Hanger 15 housing the base engineering functions was completely destroyed, and the consolidated barracks was reported to be the most heavily bombed building on Oahu.
A single Japanese fighter flew in and fired its machine guns at the tent area at Bellows Field. Shortly after that, nine more fighters arrived and gave the field a thorough strafing. Members of Wheeler's 44th Pursuit Squadron, who were at Bellows for gunnery training, rushed out to arm their P-40 Warhawks. One pilot was killed while getting into his airplane, and a second was shot down at the end of the runway. The third got airborne but was quickly gunned down and crashed into the ocean. Although wounded, he managed to swim ashore.
Although the Japanese air assault was devastating, six American aircraft were able to get airborne and counter the Japanese attack. At Wheeler and Haleiwa, P-36 and P-40 pilots managed to take off, engaged the enemy in furious dogfights, and shot down ten Japanese aircraft. Two of the P-40 pilots, Lts. George S. Welch and Kenneth M. Taylor, later received the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism. Lieutenant Welch had four confirmed kills, and Lieutenant Taylor downed two.
Almost all of the 188 American aircraft in Hawaii were destroyed, and 155 of those were hit on the ground where they had been parked close together to minimize sabotage vulnerabilities. While attacks on barracks also killed additional pilots and other personnel.
Fifty-five Japanese airmen were killed in action. Of Japan's 350 aircraft that took part in the attack, 29 were lost during battle, 74 were damaged by antiaircraft and machine gun fire from the ground and more than 20 of the aircraft that returned to the carriers could not be salvaged.
