EMC
97: Pearl Harbor “The Movie”
"The RAF shall begin
'leaning forward' into France."
Lord
Trenchard
FRAME 1 – EAGLE SQUADRONS FIGHT WITH THE RAF IN EUROPE
With the onset of winter 1940/41 the daylight battles over southeastern England had gradually fizzled out. Combatants on both sides expected the daylight assault to be renewed with the coming of spring in 1941, but this was not to be. Hitler was by now looking eastward.
Offensive action on the Channel coast during the first half of 1941 amounted to little more than skirmishing, with penny packets of German fighters carrying out sweeps in Staffel or even Schwarm strength. The RAF was of a similar mind, putting a cautious toe in the water and probing the strength of the German air defenses.
The
air weapon must be used if it is to keep it's cutting edge. The
RAF began mounting "Rhubarbs" and "Rangers"
with small numbers of fighters, and "Rodeos" and
"Circuses" with large formations. These differed only in
whether they accompanied bombers. A Rodeo was a pure fighter
sweep, and provided it was identified as such, was left strictly
alone by the Jagdflieger. Circuses, even though they
contained only a small number of bombers and did inconsequential
damage, could not be ignored. To do so would simply have
encouraged the RAF to step up the weight of the assault.
A
typical Circus consisted of half a dozen Blenheim or Stirling
bombers at medium altitude, surrounded by 9 or 10 squadrons of
Spitfires and Hurricanes. Combined with the supporting and cover
wings, the total number of British fighters in a Circus often
outnumbered JG2 and JG26 combined. It was difficult
and dangerous nut for the defenders to crack.
From the RAF standpoint, this was a time of training and gaining experience. Fighter Command had undergone a massive expansion. While to a very high degree the squadron and flight commanders were "Old Hands", the proportion of novices was high.
The first Circus was flown on January 10, 1941, but the build up was slow and had only reached 14 by mid-June. Then, on June 21, two Circuses were flown in a single day, and from then on the pressure was unrelenting. Here, our story begins....
FRAME 2 – ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOUR
OUR EVENT WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE PTO TERRAIN
– NORTH BECOMES EAST FOR THE EVENT PURPOSES – SEE MAP
On November 26, 1941, a Japanese task force (the Kido Butai, or Striking Force) of six aircraft carriers departed northern Japan en route to a position to northwest of Hawaii, intending to launch its aircraft to attack Pearl Harbor. In all, 405 aircraft were intended to be used: 360 for the two attack waves, 48 on defensive combat air patrol (CAP), including nine fighters from the first wave.
The first wave was to be the primary attack, while the second wave was to finish whatever tasks remained. The first wave contained the bulk of the weapons to attack capital ships, mainly torpedoes. The aircrews were ordered to select the highest value targets (battleships and aircraft carriers) or, if either were not present, any other high value ships (cruisers and destroyers). Dive bombers were to attack ground targets. Fighters were ordered to strafe and destroy as many parked aircraft as possible to ensure they did not get into the air to counterattack the bombers, especially in the first wave. When the fighters' fuel got low they were to refuel at the aircraft carriers and return to combat. Fighters were to serve CAP duties where needed, especially over US airfields.
Before the attack commenced, two reconnaissance aircraft launched from cruisers were sent to scout over Oahu and report on enemy fleet composition and location. Another four scout planes patrolled the area between the Kido Butai and Niihau, in order to prevent the task force from being caught by a surprise counterattack.
The First Wave – T+0
The first attack wave of 183 planes was launched north of Oahu. It included:
1st Group (targets: battleships and aircraft carriers)
50 Nakajima B5N bombers armed with 800 kg (1760 lb) armor piercing bombs, organised in four sections
40 B5N bombers armed with Type 91 torpedoes, also in four sections
2nd Group — (targets: Ford Island and Wheeler Field)
54 Aichi D3A dive bombers armed with 550 lb (249 kg) general purpose bombs
3rd Group — (targets: aircraft at Ford Island, Hickam Field, Wheeler Field, Barber’s Point, Kaneohe)
45 Mitsubishi A6M fighters for air control and strafing
As the first wave approached Oahu a U.S. Army SCR-270 radar at Opana Point near the island's northern tip (a post not yet operational, having been in training mode for months) detected them and called in a warning. Although the operators reported a target echo larger than anything they had ever seen, an untrained officer at the new and only partially activated Intercept Center, Lieutenant Kermit A. Tyler, presumed the scheduled arrival of six B-17 bombers was the source. The direction from which the aircraft were coming was close (only a few degrees separated the two inbound courses), while the operators had never seen a formation as large as the U.S. bombers on radar. It is also possible the operators had only seen the lead element of the incoming attack.
Several U.S. aircraft were shot down as the first wave approached land, and one at least radioed a somewhat incoherent warning. Other warnings from ships off the harbor entrance were still being processed or awaiting confirmation when the attacking planes began bombing and strafing. Nevertheless it is not clear any warnings would have had much effect even if they had been interpreted correctly and much more promptly. The results the Japanese achieved in the Philippines were essentially the same as at Pearl Harbor, though MacArthur had almost nine hours warning that the Japanese had already attacked at Pearl and specific orders to commence operations before they actually struck his command.
The air portion of the attack on Pearl Harbor began at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time (3:18 a.m. December 8 Japanese Standard Time, as kept by ships of the Kido Butai), with the attack on Kaneohe. A total of 353 Japanese planes in two waves reached Oahu. Slow, vulnerable torpedo bombers led the first wave, exploiting the first moments of surprise to attack the most important ships present (the battleships), while dive bombers attacked U.S. air bases across Oahu, starting with Hickam Field, the largest, and Wheeler Field, the main U.S. Army Air Force fighter base. The 171 planes in the second wave attacked the Air Corps' Bellows Field near Kaneohe on the windward side of the island, and Ford Island. The only aerial opposition came from a handful of P-40 Warhawks.
Men aboard U.S. ships awoke to the sounds of alarms, bombs exploding, and gunfire prompting bleary eyed men into dressing as they ran to General Quarter’s stations. The famous message, "Air raid Pearl Harbor, This is not drill", was sent from the headquarters of Patrol Wing Two, the first senior Hawaiian command to respond. The defenders were very unprepared. Ammunition lockers were locked, aircraft parked wingtip to wingtip in the open to deter sabotage, guns unmanned (none of the Navy's 5"/38s and only a quarter of its machine guns, and only four of 31 Army batteries got in action). Despite this and low alert status, many American military personnel responded effectively during the battle. Ensign Joe Taussig got his ship, USS Nevada, underway from dead cold during the attack. One of the destroyers, USS Aylwin, got underway with only four officers aboard, all Ensigns, none with more than a year's sea duty; she operated at sea for four days before her commanding officer managed to get aboard. Captain Mervyn Bennion, commanding USS West Virginia (Kimmel's flagship), led his men until he was cut down by fragments from a bomb hit to USS Tennessee, moored alongside.
Gallantry was widespread. In all, 14 officers and sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor. A special military award, the Pearl Harbor Commemorative Medal, was later authorized for all military veterans of the attack.
The second wave consisted of 171 planes: 54 B5Ns, 81 D3As, and 36 A6Ms, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Shigekazu Shimazaki. Four planes failed to launch because of technical difficulties. This wave and its targets comprised:
1st Group — 54 B5Ns armed with 550 lb (249 kg) and 120 lb (54 kg) general purpose bombs
27 B5Ns — aircraft and hangars on Kaneohe, Ford Island, and Barbers Point
27 B5N — hangars and aircraft on Hickam Field
2nd Group (targets: aircraft carriers and cruisers)
81 D3As armed with 550 lb (249 kg) general purpose bombs, in four sections
3rd Group — (targets: aircraft at Ford Island, Hickham Field, Wheeler Field, Barber’s Point, Kaneohe)
36 A6Ms for defense and strafing
The second wave was divided into three groups. One was tasked to attack Kāneʻohe, the rest Pearl Harbor proper. The separate sections arrived at the attack point almost simultaneously, from several directions.
FRAME 3 – THE DOOLITTLE RAID
In the wake of shock and anger following Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt pressed his military planners for a strike against Tokyo. Intended as revenge for Pearl Harbor, and an act of defiance in the face of a triumphant Japanese military, such a raid presented acute problems in execution. No working Allied air base was close enough to Japan. A carrier would have to approach within three hundred miles of the home islands for its planes to reach. Sending surface ships so close to Japan at that time would practically assure their destruction, if not from Japan's own surface forces, then from her ground-based planes or submarine forces.
Still Roosevelt insisted - demanded - that a way be found.
The first piece of the puzzle fell into place in the second week of January 1942. Captain Francis Lowe, attached to the Admiral Ernest King's staff in Washington, paid a visit to Norfolk, Virginia, to inspect the new carrier USS Hornet CV-8. There, on a nearby airfield, was painted the outline of a carrier, inspiring Lowe to pursue the possibility of launching ground-based bombers - large planes, with far greater range than carrier-based bombers - from the deck of an aircraft carrier.
By January 16, Lowe's air operations officer, Captain Donald Duncan, had developed a proposal. North American B-25 medium bombers, with capacity for a ton of bombs and capable of flying 2000 miles with additional fuel tanks, could take off in the short distance of a carrier deck, attack Japanese cities, and continue on to land on friendly airfields in mainland China.
