The Journey of Flight.pdf - Valkyrie Cadet

Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor
on the ground with a surprise attack. At 7:55 am, the Japanese began bombing and strafing American
airfields on the island of Oahu.
As planned, every advantage lay with the Japanese because they had achieved complete surprise.
One Japanese advantage arose from America’s fear of sabotage. On November 27, 1941, American Air
Force and Navy airplanes had been taken out of their hangars and parked closely together on runways
as a precautionary measure. They wanted to make sure no one on foot could get to their aircraft. So
they put all of the planes in one place under armed guard.
The problem, of course, was that this made them vulnerable to an air attack. The Japanese destroyed
96 Army and 92 Navy planes and damaged 159 more. During the attack, only 6 Army fighters and 36
Navy aircraft were able to get into the air.
Meanwhile, as the Japanese were wiping out American air power on Oahu, other Japanese pilots
were taking advantage of their air superiority. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor where 8 battleships,
7 cruisers, 28 destroyers, 5 submarines and 32 other ships sat vulnerable to the surprise attack.
For 30 minutes, starting at 8:00 am, the helpless fleet, moored and wholly unprepared was pounded
by wave after wave of dive-, torpedo and horizontal bombers. After a 15-minute lull, the Japanese
renewed the attack with vigor.
90