Airplanes Available In HI on & Dec 1941

[MIflyer]

A while back I was reading that on the afternoon of 7 Dec 1941, a flight of A-20's launched from a field on HI, looking for a reported IJN aircraft carrier off Diamond Head. I had never heard we had A-20's there.

I have also seen a photo of what certainly is a P-26 in a destroyed hangar in HI.

Has anyone found a document that lists all of the airplanes we had available in Hawaii on the morning of 7 Dec 1941?

 

[fubar57]

From "Pearl Harbour - The Air Force Story"...

​

EDIT: The B-24A was only supposed to be there on a stop-over to have weapons installed but there were problems with installation and was delayed

​

 

[Shortround6]

Here is one list, I have no idea how accurate it is.

Aircraft at Pearl Harbor

 

[MIflyer]

Well, that is interesting. No B-10's I see, just the later B-12. And a lot fewer F2A's than F4F's,

I recall reading where a few years before they had just overhauled a B-10 a Hickam but had no assignment for it. So a USAAC Captain started using it to commute to work. He and his family lived in a house on the beach with a large open field behind it. He found that he could fly the B-10 home, land in the field and then take off the next morning and fly it to Hickam. Commute was only 10 min rather than the 45 min to an hour required driving over narrow curving roads. But someone at high HQ found out that a mere Captain had his own "personal" B-10 and put a stop to that. They put the B-10 on a ship, hauled it out in the ocean, and dumped it overboard.,

On Sunday morning that B-10 would have been behind his house, nowhere near a base and likely would have survived the attack.

They show 12 P-26 and none damaged in the attack but somewhere I have a picture pf a P-26 in a bombed hangar that was in very bad shape that I would call destroyed. Also 4 to 9 A-12's, and that may explain a photo I saw today that looked like a destroyed A-12.

Thanks!

 

[fubar57]

Not sure if that is an A-12 in the pic. It looks like there is a float attached to the wing

 

[vikingBerserker]

It more than likely was a B-12 as there were only B-12's in HI. They had built in floatation incase they ever had to make a water landing which is why they were transferred to there.

There is a slight error in the chart above. B-12 #33-261 had crashed at Wheeler Field on July 5th of 1941 and was in the repair depot when the attack occurred, it actually was destroyed.

 

[fubar57]

......said the man with only a passing interest in the B-12

 

[Shortround6]

All of the pictures I can find of A-12s show a 3 blade prop if they show the prop. There may have been an A-12 with a 2 blade prop I don't know. A-12s also had fixed landing gear with rather substantial fairings/trousers.

Most of the older planes were scattered around, as in the P-26s were usually assigned in ones or twos to squadrons equipped with other fighters. The 44th pursuit squadron had the most with 4 P-26s but had 9 P-40Bs and 7 P-40Cs. The 73rd pursuit squadron had 13 P-40B and one P-26. I doubt they were considered as combat aircraft by either pilots or the higher ups.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

The below aircraft, now located at the Smithsonian undergoing restoration, was actually physically present at Pearl Harbor. It was sitting at Ford Field.

 

[GregP]

Doesn't Kermit Weeks have an S-43 in restoration?

 

[MIflyer]

An article I just read about Lt Col Besby Holmes (Of Popguns and Peashooters, Flight Journal) said he flew P-36's at Haleiwa Field, and got aloft on 7 Dec, only to find that it was all over. Afterwards they used the P-26's operationally for combat patrols, since most of the P-40's had been destroyed. They had both A and B model P-26's.

I still can't find the photo of the P-26 in the bombed hangar but here is a shot of a Zero at PH.

 

[MIflyer]

I understand this one was in HI on that day as well.

And yes, it flies.

 

[buffnut453]

I understand this one was in HI on that day as well.

And yes, it flies.

It was and it does.

 

[vikingBerserker]

That is pretty cool.

 

[Barrett]

Sidebar: Gabby Gabreski was a 2nd Lt at Pearl, 45th PS. He got airborne in a P-36 but no joy. He said, "The Japs spoiled the best deal I ever had. Unless you had the duty, after flying in the morning you could usually get part of the afternoon off to go surfing, swimming, or girl chasing." He met & married Kay in Hawaii.

 

[vikingBerserker]

I never knew that, very cool!

 

[MIflyer]

Ironically, about 15 USAAF fighter pilots got in an unarmed B-18 on 6 Dec and went to Molokai, guests of a Mr. Chung-Hoon for a deer hunt. They had decided to give the squadron a day off. While deer hunting on Sunday morning they heard about the Japanese attack. They could not believe it and headed back in the B-18. When they saw the smoke from the fires they first figured it was a very realistic exercise. Fortunately they did not encounter any Japanese aircraft, but saw them in the distance. They approached Pearl Harbor and the USN opened up on them. They went to Wheeler Field and landed Okay.

Imagine not only being away from the field during an attack but in an unarmed B-18.